More Deadly Than
by OughtaKnowBetter
Summary: On their way back home, the Helix goes down with Adam, Brennan, and Jesse on board. Can Shalimar and Emma find them before it's too late? Story now complete. Does it work?
1. Chapter 1

"Nope." Adam declined the beer that Brennan offered. "Designated driver, remember?" He kept his hands on the controls of the Double Helix, guiding the sleek jet through the darkening skies and between the mountain tops, enjoying the feel of the responsive joystick. Too often one or the other of his passengers were at the controls, leaving him the helpless passenger and wishing that there was a spot for another co-pilot. Here was his chance to get in a little flight time of his own. "You go ahead, both of you. You earned it."

"Damn straight," Brennan agreed cheerfully, a subtle slur in his words. Next to him, the seatbelt carefully wrapped around his waist, sat Jesse with yet another bottle in his hand. The molecular raised his own bottle in a small toast to victory: "Hear, hear."

The mission had been a hairy one, with all three of them convinced that breathing would no longer be part of their immediate future. It had taken a combination of brains, electrical energy, and a solid wall made of Kilmartin to extract their target mutant from enemy hands and deliver him to the underground. A victory celebration had been the least the recipient community of New Mutants could do, and both Brennan and Jesse had been eager to engage in some serious de-stressing. Adam, with a grin, had cheerfully bade the pair to indulge. There was little enough joy in their collective lives, and the occasional well-earned break from the responsibilities of those lives was all the more cherished for its rarity. And since the community made their living off an amazing microbrew… Well, even Adam permitted himself just one. With a caffeine chaser so that he wouldn't crash the Helix.

Adam, however, had some other things on his mind, other things like the computer program that he'd left running, the one that he anticipated would take a minimum of four weeks of 24/7 computer time to emerge with results. And a particular culture that was so slow growing that the lifespan of a sequoia tree seemed rapid in comparison. Both projects were scheduled for completion sometime in the near future, and Adam was grateful that he now expected to be around to enjoy the outcomes.

And then there was that letter from Rosalie, the one with the subtly scented perfume that his nose caught right away—as had Shalimar's. Her eyes had widened when the mail came in, and a small corner of her lips quirked upward. But not a word did she say, and Adam appreciated the discretion of the feral. There were some parts of his life that he didn't need to share with his team, and Rosalie was one of them. It wasn't as though she was a mutant, although the way she seemed to read his mind…

He shook in head, smiling. Six hours of flight time, he estimated, and they'd be back at Sanctuary. The bottles pressed upon the two mutants in the Helix wouldn't last them the whole trip, but if one or both happened to fall asleep? Well, he wouldn't let it bother him. Adam enjoyed occasionally flying the Helix. Reminded him that there was a life outside the lab.

He glanced at the radar, listening idly to the weather on the radio. There was a storm off to the north that ought to pass by them without incident. Adam glanced at the positioning equipment, then frowned and adjusted their course with a definite southward bent. He hadn't realized that they'd drifted so far north. Must have been the wind drafts through the mountains. More to come; Adam mentally plotted a route directly south in order to pass between a more southernly set of peaks.

The ride grew more rocky. Brennan nearly spilled his beer; he looked up in dismay. "Hey."

"Hitting a few down drafts," Adam reassured him, concentrating on the controls. "We'll be out of them in a few moments."

Jesse unlatched his seatbelt to come forward and plop into the co-pilot's chair, tapping at a few of the gauges. Adam recalled the younger man playing with those dials just yesterday before they took off on their mission, tweaking the instruments until they could literally pinpoint a needle in a haystack. Adam also remembered being distinctly delighted at that tweaking, for it allowed them to locate their target a scant fifteen minutes before their opposite number. That in turn allowed a hurried escape, a dash across a wheat field with a few lightning bolts to cover their backsides. It didn't matter that the sky had been clear blue, not a cloud in sight. Their very own elemental was all the thunderstorm that they needed.

But Jesse frowned at the dials, playing with one of them.

"Jesse?"

"You didn't accidentally or on purpose take us anywhere near the North Pole, did you, Adam?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"And the Helix is fast, but the South Pole is out."

"Get to the point, Jesse."

Jesse indicated the bank of read-outs. "Adam, these dials are acting as though confused by a magnetic pole. And that doesn't make sense. We're too far away for that to be happening. And even if you were making a bee line for the North Pole, we're too far away even for the Helix to get there in the amount of time we've been airborne."

Adam glanced over and confirmed his navigator's findings. "That explains why I've been drifting off course. I'll bet the entire directional system's been affected. Can you find out anything else?"

"Like, where we are?" Brennan put in, coming up behind to hunker over their shoulders, peering interestedly at the control panel. All thoughts of the case of microbrew were left behind in stowage, and any remnants of inebriation vanished under the onslaught of adrenaline.

"We know we're somewhere over the North American continent," Jesse muttered, his attention on the offending gauges.

"Not helping, Jess."

Adam glanced at the ground below. It looked tree-covered and jagged. "Wait until we get through this mountain pass. Then I'll use an old pilot's trick."

"Oh? What's that?"

Adam grinned crookedly. "Fly low enough to see the street signs. If a big green one says Route 98 Eastbound, and Dubuque, Iowa 30 miles, we'll know approximately where we are."

Brennan snorted, and grabbed onto the back of Adam's seat when the jet took a sudden plunge in a chimney of cold air.

"Better strap in," Adam advised. "This could be a little rough."

"Uh, Adam, maybe we want to turn back?" Jesse suggested. "As in, our weather gauges are now telling us that we have some nasty weather on our tail?"

Adam too looked at what Jesse was seeing. The storm that he'd carefully turned to avoid was almost upon them, courtesy of some erratic previous readings. He ground his teeth; no use complaining now. What was done, was done. Time to get out of this mess. "Shortest way away from here?"

"Due west," Jesse said thoughtfully. "Do a one eighty, Adam. The storm is coming down from the north—"

The Helix bucked. Brennan yelped, and grabbed for his chair, wishing that he too had a panel of controls to fight with. Leaving the work up to others was not something that he did willingly.

Adam was in the pilot's seat. He banked the Helix, sending it into a tight spin, seeking an escape from the oncoming storm.

"West is the shortest way out!" Jesse half-yelled over the din. Rain suddenly beat on the outer hull with a drum-like staccato and they heard the whipsnap crash of a nearby lightning strike. Brennan could feel every electron as they flashed through the atmosphere, calling to him and begging him to come out into thin air and play catch.

Brennan declined.

Adam wrenched at the controls, trying to persuade the Helix to obey him. It was not a fragile craft but, compared to the gale force winds that had suddenly sprung up, the Double Helix was feeling like a small satchel of feathers. The jet dropped again, leaving his stomach behind.

It went too fast. The massive air pockets tossed the jet up and down, turning them upside down and just as quickly right side up. It was clear that the storm had more decision-making power than the pilot.

"Adam?"

"Call in our position, Jesse!" Adam yelled back. "Let them know where we are."

"Where we think we are," Brennan growled from his back seat, seriously unhappy and not afraid to let them know it. "Any place to put this bird down and wait out the storm?"

"You see it, I'll land it," Adam replied, his attention on the controls. "Jesse?"

"Nearest airport more than sixty miles away."

"Field?"

"On these mountain tops?" Jesse snorted. "Get real."

Behind them, Brennan was already busy on the comm. link. "Sanctuary, this is Helix. Mayday. Mayday." He kept his voice cool and collected. Panic was not his style.

"I've got you, Helix. What is your position?" Emma, back at Sanctuary, took her cue from her teammate.

"Position unknown. We're caught in a storm, Emma, that we ran into when something jammed our navigation gear. Some kind of magnetic thing, Jesse said. We may be going down in the trees. And mountains."

"Looking to fix your position," was the response. "Triangulating. Damn, how does Jesse do this so easily?"

"Run the TR-4 program, pull down the file menu for Helix," Jesse called over his shoulder. "I've got the sub-routines already loaded."

"You get that, Emma?"

"Yeah, I got it. Jess, this thing is slow."

Jesse shot a nasty look over his shoulder at Brennan. "You been downloading files of supermodels again, bro?"

"Not me, Jess. I learned my lesson."

"Well, somebody's been clogging up the cache," he grumbled, fighting with the dials, grabbing onto his seat when the Helix took another plunge downward. "I had that thing set to go in a nano-second. Whoa," he finished when yet another air pocket tossed the Helix back up into the atmosphere.

"Sorry." Adam's attention remained on the control panel. "Everybody strapped in?"

"Adam?"

"We are going down," he announced grimly.

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"Shalimar!" Emma exclaimed. "The Helix just crashed in the mountains."

"Position?" Shalimar snapped into action, darting to another computer console. "Sanctuary to Helix. Come in, Helix. Helix, can you hear me?" Only static chattered back at her. She turned back to the psionic. "What was their last known position?"

"I don't know. I didn't have time to triangulate."

"What's the best that you got?"

"Here." Emma pointed to a darkly forested area on the computer generated map. The topological features indicated a mountainous range. A very large, mountainous range with many mountains. The terrain could be described as up and down, and very little flat.

Shalimar stared. "How large a search area?"

"A twenty mile radius," Emma whispered. "Pi _r_ squared."

Shalimar swallowed hard. "That's over a thousand square miles."

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The Double Helix teetered on a bed of trees and then slowly, majestically, tilted and slid sideways to the forest floor. Branches cracked and crashed beneath the weight, arguing with the force of gravity on an object no longer permitted to be airborne, demanding retribution for the unwanted intrusion by stabbing splinters the size of spears through the formerly sleek sheet metal. The windshield shattered, sprinkling shards of glass on the occupants close by. Smoke wafted upward.

"Everyone okay?" Adam detached his hand from the joystick. It came away unwillingly; Adam recalled clenching the controls so fiercely in a futile attempt to stop the crash that the steel now showed the imprint of his fingers. Not a bad thing, he decided. If they'd all died, they could have identified the remains by his fingerprints etched in metal. _Look on the bright side, Dr. Kane_. "Jesse? Brennan?"

"I'm alive," Jesse said in wonderment. "Nice flying, Adam. I thought for sure we were goners." He unhitched the crash harness, sidling out of the webbing. "Brennan?"

"I could use a little help over here." The elemental's voice was strained. "Something's pinning me down."

"Brennan?" Adam scrambled out of his own crash harness, Jesse right behind him.

"Oh, man," Jesse breathed.

Brennan winced. "Yeah. Real lucky."

"You can say that again." Adam inspected the damage. "Don't move. We'll get you out of there."

"Not a problem. I won't be moving any time soon."

Brennan had indeed been lucky, lucky to have avoided being skewered on a hefty pine branch. The tree limb had entered through the side of the Helix, shoving the sheet metal aside, and pushed the heavy shielding across Brennan's upper torso. Even so, the elemental was fortunate. Had the branch continued through the sheet metal instead of being turned aside by it, Brennan would have been looking sightlessly down at a three inch pine-scented spear through his chest. He would have died instantly.

"Something to be said for an old-fashioned shield," he added weakly. "You gonna be able to get me out of this mess?"

"We'll get you out, bro," Jesse promised, looking frantically around at the mess, looking for a way to lift both branch and Helix-shield off of his teammate. "Anything hurt?"

"Not sure yet. Hey!" Brennan yelped as the Helix tilted once again.

"We've got to get out of here," Adam realized. "If the Helix is on a cliff, we may be about to go for another ride."

"Stop the merry-go-round, I want to get off," Brennan muttered.

Adam peered out of a newly created window, the metal edges jagged against the view. "We're about four feet off of the ground, and yes, we're on about a sixty degree slope." He surveyed the wreckage pinning Brennan in place, swiftly estimating the possibilities. "Jesse, I want you to get out of here and come up under the Helix to where Brennan is. Do you think you can phase him out through the bottom?"

"On it." Jesse made his way to the door, pausing briefly as the Helix tilted once more. It seemed almost anti-climactic to open the lock, given that another tree branch had positioned itself through the nearby wall. The Helix shuddered once again as he dropped out of the craft onto the dirt below, shifting uncomfortably in the direction of down the steep slope. Lightning flashed above them, bright against the cloud-darkened sky.

"Guide to the sound of my voice, Jesse." Adam directed the molecular around the downed craft and toward the right spot, raising his voice to be heard above the staccato rain. "Move further under the Helix. That's right, a little farther to your left. No, your other left. Another six inches; okay, another six inches beyond that. There."

Jesse placed his hands against the underbelly of the Helix, closing his eyes and _feeling_ with a sense not available to mere humans. He ignored the wet rain that started drizzling down his collar, setting his feet more firmly against the incline. "Got him," he reported.

"All right," Adam said, sitting back on his heels. He rested a comforting hand on Brennan's shoulder. "You ready, Brennan?"

"Just get me out of here," Brennan whispered, closing his eyes. "Just get me out."

"Go ahead, Jesse," Adam called.

Jesse exhaled. The outer metal hull of the Double Helix wavered, and shimmered into insubstantiality. Brennan fell through the suddenly empty space, crashing down onto Jesse and tumbling them both to the ground. The Helix snapped back into reality.

The craft moved. It slid another three feet down the mountainside, carrying Adam and a quantity of mud and broken tree branches with it.

Jesse sprang to his feet. "Adam!"

"Still here." The older man tried not to sound shaken from inside the vehicle. Not ten feet away was a sheer drop, and the Helix appeared determined to become airborne again, even if it was straight down to the crevice below. "You got him?"

"He's here. Your turn."

"I think I'll try the exit."

Even as they watched, the Helix trembled with the mere tiptoeing of its creator toward the door. It almost slid once again.

"Uh, Adam?"

"Yeah." This time the nervous quaver did make it into the open air. "Jesse, you up to another phasing?"

"Just stay still. Stay right where you are. Don't move, and the Helix won't either." Leaving Brennan lying in the rain-soaked dirt and leaves, Jesse squirmed back under the Helix. The space had decreased to a mere two feet, high enough for crawling but not much more. He stopped every few feet to _feel_ against the bottom of the craft until he sensed the reassuring density of his mentor. "All right, I've got you. Adam, there isn't much room here. You're going to need to lie down so that I can get you all the way out into this space down here. Can you do that?"

"This goes against every instinct I have," Adam complained, but did as he was told. The Helix shuddered unhappily at the movement. "Jesse…?"

"I'm hurrying," was the reply. "On the count of three. One. Two. Two and a half…"

"Jesse!"

The bottom of the Helix phased, and Adam tumbled out through the sudden lack of support and onto the cold and wet ground.

Jesse grinned unrepentantly. "Three."

"Jesse," Adam started to admonish him when the Helix rumbled once again. Jesse flashed into a rock hard shield over his mentor, covering the man with his own body as the Helix shifted one last time, sliding across the hard surface and down the slope. It teetered on the edge of the incline and then slowly, majestically, tilted and disappeared sideways off the edge of the cliff. The three heard crashing and metal shrieking, until it slid to a stop in the ravine below.

Lightning cracked.

"Damn," Jesse breathed. "That's gonna be a bitch to haul out of there."

Adam spared him a glance. "Let's work at getting ourselves out of here first. Brennan?"

"Right here." The big man still lay on the ground where Jesse had dragged him, clutching his arm, rain droplets pelting his face. He blinked, trying to keep the water out of his eyes.

Adam was at him in a flash, poking and prodding. "Broken, but I suspect you already knew that. I won't be able to tell if there's any other damage until we get you back to Sanctuary. Anything else hurt?"

"Everything else hurts," Brennan groaned, "but nothing feels broken. Just my arm. And my pride." He winced. "Damn."

"Shelter," Adam realized. "Shelter first, then we'll splint your arm." He looked around, spotted a grove of trees that had blown over in a previous storm. "Jesse, help me get Brennan over there, under those bushes. It's drier than here. We can wait out the storm."

They hauled the larger man to his feet, almost tumbling back to the ground when he staggered, guiding him and pushing him under the farthest branches where it was dry, or at least less wet. Above, lightning cracked again. Jesse braved the rain once more to toss more brush on top of the impromptu structure to improve the water-tightness.

He looked around their snug quarters. "Put up a campfire, and this place might even be comfortable," he quipped.

Adam snorted. "With what firewood? Everything's soaked." He too scanned the area, his eyes and then his hands lighting on a stout piece of wood. He looked back at Brennan, worry etching his face. "Brennan, I'm sorry. I'm going to have to set that arm. If I don't, you may suffer permanent damage."

Brennan paled. "I don't suppose you have any morphine in your medical kit?"

"Actually, I do. But the kit is at the bottom of the ravine with the Helix."

"I'll get it," Jesse volunteered, getting to his feet.

Adam stopped him, his face grave. "Sorry, Jesse. There's no time." He indicated the rapidly swelling area on Brennan's arm. There was no doubt that that was where the injury was. "It has to be set now, or the edema will make it impossible to do. And there's too great a risk that you yourself could be injured trying to get it out of the Helix."

Jesse set his jaw. "I'll take that chance."

"But Brennan can't. I need you here, Jesse, to help me with Brennan. Afterward you can go after it, once the rain has stopped and it's safe."

The rebellious look in Jesse's eye didn't abate, but he only said, "what do you need me to do?"

Adam set his own lips in a tight line at what had to be done. "Just hold him."

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"We haven't heard from them since last night," Emma fretted. "Their comm. links are down, the entire area is socked in with rain, and we don't know whether they're dead or alive." The tourist center at the entrance to the national park service was deserted except for one bored looking young man behind a cheap metal desk trying to catch up on sorting and filing. Standard pictures of local birds and mammals dotted the walls with odd facts about the afore-mentioned critters, facts that any school kid could have recited without looking. Both women had wasted no time with their own travel arrangements, heading for the closest point that they could determine that the Helix had gone down. It was going to be a long search. And it was starting here.

"They're alive," Shalimar said grimly.

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. I refuse to believe otherwise." Shalimar marched up to the clerk at the desk and turned on blinding charm. There was more than one type of hunting, and the feral knew them all. "I need some maps of the area," she cooed at the clerk. "Topological maps, with outline of the mountains and elevations."

The clerk melted under the onslaught. "Miss, you don't really want to go in the backwoods country right now. They've got some flood warnings going on. It rained last night something fierce; there are going to be flash floods coming down off of the mountains. Nobody's allowed in for camping or hiking. Better wait until next week when it will be safe."

"That's what we intend to do," Shalimar purred, "but there's no harm in looking at maps, is there? Plan our route?" She leaned over the counter, treating the young man to a generous display of feminine charms, despising herself for the deception but seeing no better—or faster—way. "Out in the mud, and rain? It would ruin my hair." She tossed blonde ringlets over her shoulder to look at the clerk under hooded eyes. "I'd be ever so grateful if you could get me those maps. The ones that the rangers use? My friend and I want to go up to the family cabin next week."

Emma too radiated harmlessness and good will, in a slightly more direct manner. The clerk never had a chance.

He handed over the requested maps. "I didn't know there was a cabin up that way. I've never seen it when I've gone hiking."

"Oh, it's _very_ far up," Shalimar cooed. "It will take _all day_ to get there. But it's _so _beautiful." She tossed her hair once again, trying to keep from getting nauseous at her own antics. _It's working_, she told herself.

Emma too tightened her control, pushing on the young man's hormones until he could barely think straight. "Is there a nearby hotel we could stay at until the danger is past?" she asked, thinking to give him an out. Tell him that they intended to head out directly, and the spell would be broken. One or the other of Mutant X would end up knocking him unconscious in one fashion or another. Better to engage in a harmless deception.

The clerk beamed. Waiting was consistent with what he thought ought to happen. And if he should happen to wander over to the hotel restaurant for dinner tonight and catch sight of the two lovelies that he'd helped today? He preened. "Certainly, miss."

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At least the rain had let up. The clouds were still prominent, leftover water would cascade from one leaf to another, and the high elevation ensured that the water-soaked survivors were thoroughly chilled, but it was still better than before. One cloud was currently masquerading as fog, ringing the mountaintop where they were, covering their world with a quieting mist that dampened both vision and sound.

Brennan's eyes were closed and his arm splinted and bound to his chest. He snored. True to his word and Adam's disapproval, Jesse had scrambled down the slope to the wreckage of the Helix and dug out Adam's first aid kit as soon as the arm was set and the rain had let up. Adam had wasted no time administering a hefty dose of pain-killer and splinting up Brennan's arm. There still was no warming fire, none possible with the water-soaked kindling, but the survival blanket almost covered all three of them huddled around the sleeping Brennan, sharing warmth through the night.

Their comm. links were inoperative. Without tools, Adam couldn't determine why but guessed that the same problem with magnetic resonance distracting their navigation had something to do with it. The reason didn't matter. What did matter is that the three of them were alone in the mountains, no help in sight, one of them injured.

Brennan stirred. One eye levered itself open, acknowledging that the night was over and the morning had begun. "Adam?"

"Right here, Brennan." Adam checked the circulation on Brennan's wrist. "How are you feeling?"

"Feeling no pain," Brennan slurred. "Where are we?"

"Good question." Adam looked out from under the tree-branch shelter. "Jesse's down with the Helix, seeing what he can find out."

A rustling in the bushes told them that Jesse was no longer at the Helix. The molecular came into view, hauling on bushes to pull himself up to where he'd left the other members of the team. He didn't look happy.

"Jesse?"

Jesse sighed. "Not good, Adam. Power's completely gone. Not a spark anywhere. The comm. system is junk, and even the compass is smashed. There's not a thing in the Helix that we can use right now. I'm not even certain that I'll ever be able to raise it again, even given enough supplies to fix it." He looked around him, more for emphasis than anything else, since they'd both thoroughly surveyed their surroundings during the night. "Any ideas what we do now?"

Adam shrugged. "We need to get out of here. We'll only be able to last another night or two out here; after that, the exposure will be too great. And it's the middle of autumn. I wouldn't put it past the weather to start snowing at this high an elevation. We were lucky that it didn't happen last night."

"So we head down the mountain, toward warmth." Jesse glanced up toward the sky, noting the position of the sun. "That would be south. How appropriate. Going south for the winter. Like geese, bird-brains that we are."

"We get out of this, you can take a Florida vacation," Adam promised. He eyed Brennan worriedly. The elemental was still on the ground, wrapped in the silvery survival blanket, shivering. "We'll pack what we can along with us."


	2. More Deadly Than 2

"They're alive!" Emma opened her eyes joyfully, relaxing from her lotus position on the semi-comfortable boulder. "They're alive! I felt them!"

"Knew it." Shalimar hadn't. She had also refused to admit that she hadn't. "Are they okay?"

"I'm not sure. I felt Adam, and Jesse. Brennan's thoughts were very faint."

"Which means—?"

Emma shrugged. "Anything, or nothing at all. This is not an exact science, Shal."

"Which, I suppose, also means that you have no idea where they are?" Shalimar was still thinking of the thousand square miles to cover.

Emma looked unhappy. "I can't even narrow it down to this continent."

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Brennan staggered. Adam steadied him, using a sturdy tree for additional support.

"Take a break, Jesse," he called ahead to the molecular.

Jesse trotted back, trying to hold back his dismay. It was the third time already this morning alone, but Brennan was all in. Jesseruefully thoughtthat they couldn't havetraveled more than two miles from the crash site, and certainly nowhere near anything resembling civilization. The brush was thick and made travel difficult even under the best of conditions. Trees ascending to the sky all aroundturned it all but impossible to see more than twenty feet in any direction and he doubted that he'd be able to see a paved road until they were on top of it.

There was no help for it; Jesse hooked his hand under Brennan's arm, assisting Adam to slide the man down to the ground before he fell and ruined all of Adam's handiwork on his arm from the night before. The make-shift splint looked sloppy and painful, but if it helped… "Morphine?" Jesse asked, raising his eyebrows.

Adam shook his head grimly. "Better not," was his opinion. "We've got a long way to go, and we may still be out in this wilderness for another night. I've got one dose left; I need to save it for tonight. Without it, Brennan will never sleep, and we'll never be able to drag him back to his feet the next morning if he doesn't rest."

"Second that," Brennan groaned, slumping against the tree where they put him. "Dammit." Whether it was a specific complaint about his arm, or a generalized complaint about the situation over all, no one asked. It didn't matter. But he summoned enough energy to fix both of them with a determined eye. "Listen, guys. You're never going to make it down this mountain with me falling down every other step. The two of you go on ahead. Come back with help."

Adam shook his head. "Not a chance, Brennan. You wouldn't last one night; the wolves would have you for a midnight snack."

"But—"

"Listen, Bren." Jesse stretched himself out beside the elemental, looking for all the world as though he was out on a gentle hike with chilled champagne and strawberries waiting for him by the brook over the next hillock. It was an act, but it was a good one. "I can't afford to get rid of you. Whenever you're around, you make me look good."

That drew a snort and a wince from Brennan. He started to aim a punch in Jesse's direction, and gave it up in favor of resting. Adam smiled crookedly; the two were closer than brothers. "Relax for a bit," he directed. "I'll look around. Maybe I can spot a town in the distance, or a road. Something to give us a direction to go in."

Brennan nodded wearily. "And a place to camp." He jerked his thumb—the good one—up toward the sky. "We may be in for another soaker."

Adam surveyed the thick clouds rolling in sourly. "I think you're right. I won't be long. You rest." He caught Jesse's eye. _Watch him_.

_I will_.

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Shalimar scanned the topo maps, looking for a clue. So far there was nothing. The trio of men had given them precious little to go on, only that they had been forced off their flight plan and were somewhere else. She and Emma had traced the route that the Helix was expected to take, but knew that that would only eliminate part of the area to be searched. The Helix had been blown off course even beyond what Brennan had reported, and chances were that the storm had only blown them further south. Still, it did cut down the sheer acreage to be searched. All they had to do was to survey everything south of here. And East. And West. If that didn't work, then they'd head North. Shalimar stabbed at the offending spot in dismay.

Emma hustled up, a bulging pack over her shoulder and another one dragged at her side. The jeep was parked behind her, gassed up and ready for a jaunt into the backwoods, although Emma carefully parked the vehicle out of sight of the helpful park service clerk inside the tourist center. The man would certainly, they knew, come out to helpfully object to their plans if he should catch wind of them and refuse to let two such lovely and fragile ladies go out into the nasty bushes where they might break a fingernail.

Then they would be forced to deck him. For his own good, of course.

"Got everything?"

"Everything I could think of," Emma replied. "Shalimar, how are we going to search more than a thousand miles? People walk that in a year. We've only got days to find them before they perish from exposure. Winter is coming in."

"Got a better idea?" Shalimar hefted one of the packs. "I'm open to suggestions." She jerked her thumb at the topographic maps. "The wind currents through these mountains are treacherous enough that nobody can get through them. Even the big airlines simply go up high to avoid the problem. We're not going to be able to spot them from the air. I'm hoping that we can get lucky by narrowing down our search area to the most likely spot. And that we get _real_ lucky by being right." She glanced around. "Let's move out, before Ricky the Desk Ranger decides to look for us and won't let us break trail."

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"We're being watched," Brennan mumbled, stumbling in Adam's wake. He paused to lean against a tall pine, not out of breath but out of stamina. He silently cursed the injury that was causing him to be a drag on the other two, wishing there was some way to speed up the pace of the group.

"You're just paranoid." Jesse came up behind, ready to catch the man if he fell down. _Again_.

"No, really," Brennan insisted. He let his head fall against the rough bark, telling himself that his arm didn't throb, that he didn't have the mother of all headaches, that this was really just a simple mile long stroll in the forest. That Shalimar would have fresh lemonade and a hot shower waiting at the end of it. Or coffee. Yeah, coffee. The mere thought of the steaming mug sounded good against the oncoming cold in the high mountains. Emma would do coffee. Bless her.

Adam too closed in. "You'll feel better tomorrow," he promised. Brennan summoned the best smile he could manage. It looked pitiful. "No, really," Adam insisted. "This was the worst of it. We'll find shelter for the night—"

"And soon," Jesse put in, pointing at the dark and ominous clouds drifting in.

"—and soon." Adam accepted the addition, "and after one more night of sleep your arm will feel much better. The swelling will go down, the bones will begin to knit, the pain will begin to go away. It's why I held out on the morphine this morning. You'll thank me later."

"Right." Brennan pointed out past them. "Tell him that."

Not easy to see in the darkening afternoon light. The figure appeared vaguely man-like, short and stocky, and covered with fur. The man, or whoever it was, was wearing a shaggy fur coat that they could barely see in the distance.

"Hey!" Adam yelled. "Help! Help us! We're lost!"

There was no doubt that the man had seen them. There was also no doubt that he turned and left the trio behind to perish in the wilderness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This time I'm going for warmth," Jesse announced, dumping a pile of brush in front of the impromptu shelter that they erected. It was much like the first night; Jesse had spotted a grove of trees bent over in some storm, and he and Adam piled brush on top until they were reasonably certain that it would keep out the impending rain. It definitely blocked the wind; that they both could tell.

Jesse took their new home a step further, building a small circle of rocks and acquiring a small stash of wood for a fire. It was not an easy chore; most of the potential firewood had been soaked from the night before. But Jesse had persevered, determined to keep Brennan warmer than they had the previous night. Adam hadn't objected; there was a very real possibility of pneumonia, not only for Brennan but for all of them, soaked to the skin as they were. Another lean-to would protect their fiery investment from the impending rain predicted for tonight, or so they hoped. As long as the wind didn't drive the water droplets in the wrong direction, they would be fine.

Brennan too took part, refusing Adam's morphine until Jesse had completed his task. "How else are you going to light this fire?" he asked reasonably. "I know damn well you don't carry a cigarette lighter. You don't smoke. Gonna rub two sticks together?"

"Maybe I'll ask your disappearing friend," Jesse grinned, more satisfied now that he had Brennan down on the ground and about to become comfortable. There was also a certain relief: it was tough to fall off the ground, and Brennan had already demonstrated his ability to topple over while standing upright. The silver survival blanket was tucked in around the elemental, and he and Adam intended to crawl in to add body heat as soon as possible.

"Not _my_ friend," Brennan grumbled good-naturedly. "Come on; give me some tinder to work with. Something dry." Grateful to be able to contribute something to the survival effort, Brennan had a small flame going in moments, a blaze that Jesse coaxed into a stronger fire by feeding it small bits of tinder until it was crackling merrily in the dark, sending up smoke and also leftover steam from the rain droplets.

Adam trotted up, bare-chested despite the cold mountain air. The other two stared at his antics until their mentor spoke. "Raspberries," he offered with a grin, indicating the fruit that he had collected using his shirt as a basket. "Not exactly four star fare, but better than nothing."

"Way better," Jesse acknowledged. He picked one small and red fruit up in his fingers, regarding it as though it was a glass of wine. "Tart, yet sweet. Piquant, yet full-bodied. Small, yet delightfully filling."

"Hah." Brennan broke off his teammate's antics. "Filling for you, maybe. Me, I'm a growing boy. Give."

They tucked Brennan in for the night with berries and morphine, feeling better in body than any of them had in twenty-four hours. Adam came out of the shelter to stand beside Jesse, watching the dark clouds drift past a sliver of a moon, the clouds growing taller and more threatening. "I estimate sometime around three AM it'll start raining. Maybe snowing."

"Better than last night," was Jesse's opinion. He indicated the sleeping figure inside. "How is he?"

"Also better than last night, although I won't be satisfied until I can get him to some real medical care. As far as I can tell, the arm is set properly but unless you've suddenly developed X-ray vision I can't tell for sure."

"Sorry. Not part of the mutant repertoire." And—"You think we're going to make it out of here, Adam?"

"Of course," Adam said stoutly. "Shalimar and Emma are searching, we're making progress downhill toward civilization. Trust me; Brennan will feel a lot better in the morning, even if he can't use his arm. We'll go much faster tomorrow, maybe even avoid the tripping and falling down parts. Why wouldn't we get out of this mess?"

"That guy we saw earlier," Jesse mused. "I wonder who he was."

"What you're really wondering is why he wouldn't help us," Adam corrected. "Three people, hurt and lost in the woods, begging for help, and that man turns and leaves us. Not exactly the most charitable of actions."

"You got me there," Jesse acknowledged. "Not something I could have done. I'd have at least found out what the story was, to see if I could help."

"Ah, but you're the upstanding citizen type." Adam wagged his finger at Jesse. "Not everyone is Jesse Kilmartin, Defender of the Weak."

"Adam…!" Jesse felt himself blushing.

"No, our mystery man was probably some hermit type who wanted to keep it that way. How many people live out here, with nothing and no one around? He saw us, and ran." Adam shrugged. "We're no worse off. At least he wasn't a rogue mutant out to get us."

"Wouldn't that be just ducky." Jesse nodded in agreement. He yawned. It wasn't late, but it was dark and the day had been strenuous. "Let's turn in. You want me to take the first watch?"

Adam shook his head. "Don't bother. We both desperately need sleep, and anything wild will give the fire a wide berth. We'll both hit the hay."

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The night time was the best time for a psionic. There were fewer thoughts to guard against, fewer barriers to be breached, fewer deliberate thoughts of anger to defend her soul from. Emma drifted aimlessly out of her body, seeking nothing and everything.

She had a goal in mind but, with the perversity of the spirit, to pursue her target was to be swept far away. For those who sought answers, the psychic Overworld was an exercise in frustration but Emma, and those like her with the spiritual fortitude to be patient, it was a haven.

Her body was safe and warm in the tiny tent that Shalimar had insisted on packing along. The feral would have been perfectly happy to perch in a tree for the night but, mindful of both her companion and her quarry, elected to bring protection from the elements. A large canvas could serve many purposes: a tent for the night, or a lining for a stretcher if they found the remainder of their team in a less than mobile condition. There was a multitude of things in the oversized pack that Shalimar so effortlessly carried on her back, things that they both hoped that they wouldn't need.

Emma gently touched the feral mind. Shalimar was patrolling their campsite; she knew that Emma was making this journey, and was determined to protect the physical body as she couldn't the psychic. Shalimar's mind was quick and open to the night, inhaling the scents and the sounds of the night. Like a night hunter, Shalimar didn't rely on her eyesight to bring her information. The owl hooted in the distance—unimportant at the moment. The squeak of the mouse as the fox caught its dinner, and the snarl of a coyote as it missed the rabbit that it had intended for its own meal: all part of the environment. They maintained a hunter quiet, but to Shalimar the scent of the wolf pack a mile away was as clear as if the canines had approached with gifts in hand. All of secondary importance. There were no people about, that Emma determined from Shalimar's satisfied thoughts. People were the dangerous ones.

But Emma shared the undercurrent of worry with the feral. After that one Mayday, there had been no signal from the men of Mutant X, no true trace of them. It was as if the Helix had been beamed away to an unknown planet with alien technology.

Emma knew better. She had touched their minds shortly after, in the middle of the night. Adam's dreams had been filled with signals as strange as any alien culture, Jesse's more straightforward—and embarrassing as only a healthy man's could be to a woman peeking in. Brennan had been difficult to contact, and Emma feared for him although with both Adam and Jesse so calm there couldn't be too much wrong. Damaged, then, but not in danger of dying. At least, not yet. The mountains were cold and wild. Death could still be a very real possibility for her teammates.

Another night, another psychic call. Adam, she knew, would be expecting it, would try to leave his mind as open to her as he could. It wasn't easy; by the very nature of the man he was closed and secretive. The essence of psionics was to remain open to possibilities; the essence of science was to seek clear answers. Opposite ends of the spectrum. Adam would be easy to read, but difficult to understand.

Yes, there he was, sleeping, his mind bright with ideas and thoughts tumbling over themselves. Emma regretted being an empath, only able to feel emotions, not able to read the brilliance that swirled in those neurons. He was well; not comfortable, but well. Emma tried to determine something about his surroundings, something that would give her a clue as to their whereabouts, but there was nothing. There were only thoughts, and few emotions. Emma moved on.

And there was Jesse, his dreams again enough to make her redden. It wasn't clear if he was dreaming of her, of Shalimar, or of some other girl he'd known. It was very possible that in his dream world it was some idealized version of all three. Emma grimaced mentally. If there was any thoughts of where he was physically, Emma wasn't going to be able to get to it. Not through that fog of romantic dust.

Last hope: Brennan. Yes, there he was on the psychic plane, but his feelings were sluggish and dull. Emma finally recognized the sensation: drugged. While that made it easier to slip inside his mind, it also made it difficult to determine anything else. Brennan drowsily resisted any suggestion to go anywhere in his mind but a comfortable bed. There was an undercurrent of pain, and Emma verified her initial impression from last night, that Brennan had been injured when the Helix sent out its mayday. How bad it was, she couldn't tell but again: if it had been serious, both Adam and Jesse wouldn't have been sleeping so peacefully themselves. Emma reluctantly withdrew.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nudge.

Nudge, nudge.

Jesse grumbled, and hauled on the blanket. It was cold, his semi-conscious told him in no uncertain terms, and the blanket that he clutched was the only thing between the frigid air and the shirt that was rapidly turning to shreds in the elements.

Nudge. Sharp poke.

"Hey!" Jesse sat bolt up straight.

Only to find six men with spears aimed at him and his teammates.

'Men' was almost a misnomer. There were two eyes and a mouth for each but after that the resemblance to humanity ended.

Two noses were better described as snouts, perfect for dogs and one would have appeared at home on a grizzly bear. That one boasted pointed ears that also could have come from the grizzly and, Jesse noted with dismay, he had a similar body structure: huge. Yet another resembled a wolf, and the third went for hawk. The shaggy coat of last night had been no coat; at least, not a coat in the usual sense. They all wore fur coats, _attached_ fur coats, coats that tended to shed stray hairs in the spring. All of them, Jesse realized, had once been men. It was if it was a feral mutation run wild in several different directions, and every oneof the directions looked scary.

Hawk poked him again with the spear, nudging him awake.

"I'm up!" Jesse said indignantly. "Quit it."

Hawk poked at Adam. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get out," Jesse replied. "Leave him alone."

"What—?" Adam came suddenly awake, only to find the same spears located less than two inches from his nose. He froze.

"That one." Hawk indicated the still drugged and sleeping Brennan. "He's one of us. I saw him last night, making fire from his fingers. Wake him."

"Do as he says, Jesse," Adam quietly instructed. These people weren't going to take no for an answer. Jesse shook Brennan's shoulder.

"Um."

"Brennan, wake up."

"Go away."

Hawk poked.

"Ow!" Brennan sat up sharply. "Hey!" Then: "Huh?"

"You're all coming with us," Hawk informed them.

"Hey, wait a minute—" Adam started to object.

"I am not certain whether to kill you or not, norm," Hawk told him coldly. "It will take very little to push me in either direction. Shut up and walk."


	3. More Deadly Than 3

Brennan looked around at the tiny cave that they found themselves pushed into. The space was more of a hole in the wall than a cave, but it had its advantages over their previous accommodations. "Okay, we're moving up in the world. Solid floors, walls, and a ceiling. A little drafty at the door, but I can live with that. Wish they'd let us keep the blanket." He sat down next to the wall of the cave, leaning his back against it, cradling his broken arm in its sling. It hurt, but Brennan tried to persuade himself thatthe armwas feeling better. "Adam, you've been quiet. Too quiet. What do you know about these people?"

"I don't know anything—"

"Right. Mutants, everyone of them. And you don't know anything?"

"I've never seen them before in my life," Adam protested.

"But—?" Brennan prompted. Jesse looked on suspiciously from one to the other, wondering what was going on.

Adam colored. "You know I'm not the only genetic researcher in the world," he muttered.

"Know that for a fact. Mason Eckhart, Dr. Harrison, Absalom Maguire, a few others I'd rather not name. Which one did this?"

"I'm not certain—"

"Names, Adam."

"Stop interrogating me, Brennan," Adam snapped.

"Then stop making me question you," Brennan blazed back. "Those people—and I use the term loosely—want to kill us. Let me rephrase that: they want to kill _you_. You, as in a 'normal' human. Why?"

"If these people are who I think they are," Adam refused to be rattled, "then they are the 'mistakes' of a man by the name of Albert Van Duyn."

"Mistakes," Jesse repeated. "Why mistakes? What did this Van Duyn character do?"

"Look at them, Jesse," Adam said impatiently. "Not one could pass in society, not even with a whole body shave. They're the first generation of feral mutants, the direction that I chose not to go when I was conducting research at Genomex. You've seen Shalimar; that was the route that I took. It wasn't the only route, but it turned out to be a lot more successful that this one." He gestured at the men outside. "It sounds like they've decided to give society as much of a chance as society gave them. They opted out."

"Mountain men," Brennan said. "Maybe even the reason for so many tales of Bigfoot and Sasquatch. One look at grizzly guy over there, and anyone would be hollering for the X Files." He rubbed at his arm, trying to ease the ache. "But what have they got against you?"

"Probably because I look human and they don't." Adam shrugged. "I don't know, Brennan."

"Doesn't work for me," Brennan challenged. "I look human. Jesse looks human, too, although that's up for grabs."

"Hey!"

"So I repeat:" Brennan ignored the molecular. "Why do they want to kill you and not us?"

"Because we know him." A shadow, flickering in the flame, jumped up against the cave wall. Jesse scrambled to his feet. Brennan went to follow, and thought better of it. _We are so not up to battling these guys._ The owner of the shadow strolled in.

"You know me?" Adam was amazed. "How? When? I've never met you before in my life."

"By reputation, Dr. Kane." Hawk moved into the light of the campfire. The flames glinted on his feathers, turning them almost glittering in the yellow light. "My name is Bartholomew. I used to look like you, more or less. But human."

"Until Van Duyn came along."

"Until Van Duyn came along." Bartholomew nodded his head. He looked at his own hand, the nails long and fierce as talons, more feathers cascading over them. "I had myasthenia gravis," he explained. "I went to Dr. Van Duyn for treatment. For a cure. There was no cure for myasthenia gravis. Oh, there were palliative treatments, drugs that would slow the course of the disease and force it into temporary remissions. But there was no cure. Not until Dr. Van Duyn appeared. He cured me," Bartholomew said with false mildness. "He gave me his potion, and transfused me with the genes of a hawk. He cured me," he repeated. "I no longer suffer from myasthenia gravis."

"Side effects look like a bitch," Brennan offered.

Bartholomew favored him with a glare. "Quite right, sir. What good was it to be cured if we couldn't show our faces in public? Each and every one of us was ruined." He gestured to the people behind him. There were more than a dozen, and all showed evidence of tampering with Mother Nature. "I had quite a promising career on Wall Street until Dr. Van Duyn and his supposed miracle cure. I lost my wife, my children, my home. All because of genetics and its false promises."

"But that doesn't answer the question. Why do you want to kill Adam?" Jesse asked.

"They are all cut from the same cloth," said Bartholomew. "You are a mutant yourself, sir," he said to Brennan. "Can you honestly stand there and tell me that your life is a good one? That you have suffered _nothing_ because of the difference in your genetic make up?"

Brennan cocked his head. "I was well on my way to dying on the streets before Adam Kane got hold of me."

"Was that before or after you discovered your mutant powers?" Bartholomew shot back. "After? I thought so. Don't sit there and tell me that your life wouldn't have been better without them. As a normal, able to do normal things. Never afraid that this will be the one time that your mutantcy gets the better of you, and you kill someone. Or that someone kills you out of fear."

"Or perhaps you would wish for death," Wolf added, "because of it. Some of us have chosen that route."

"Look, not all of us are like Van Duyn," Adam argued. "I went into this research so that I could help people, people who were dying right then and there. I _saved_ lives."

"I can show you records of people who are alive today because of Adam," Jesse added. "I can introduce you to them: people who would have died years ago, walking around on the streets today leading normal lives."

"Ah, that's the rub." Bartholomew jumped on the word. "_Normal_."

"I didn't know you existed. Let me see if I can help you," Adam said. "Help us get out of here, out of the woods, and give me samples of your DNA. I won't make you any promises—I'm sure that Albert Van Duyn did enough of that—but I _will_ promise to try my best to give you another option beyond living by yourselves in the woods."

"Oh, but we _have _another option." It sounded odd to hear the words all but cooed from the hawk beak on Bartholomew's face. "You see, we're not all dumb animals, Dr. Kane."

"I never said—"

"Some of us have made quite a study of the native flora in this region of the country," Bartholomew continued, as if Adam hadn't tried to speak. "In fact, we've been rather motivated. And we've been successful. We've discovered a cure."

"A cure?" Adam was genuinely interested. "How? What?"

"Why haven't you used it?" Brennan broke in.

"We have," Bartholomew said.

"Only the ingredients get used up pretty quick," Wolf appended, sticking out his tongue and lolling it over his face, canine-fashion. "Two of us escaped this life. They're now living it up in the real world. Something like you," he added, a hungry look on his snout. "Taking advantage of the normals with their mutant powers." Jesse stifled a shudder.

"So you need more raw material." Adam was trying to be cooperative. "What raw materials? How can we help you get it?"

"Oh, we've got some right now, doc." Was that slaver drooling off of Wolf's canines? _Those teeth were certain to reappear in someone's dreams tonight_, Jesse thought. _Probably mine_. "We're drawing lots to see who gets to go first. Me, I think I ought to go before Wilbur here," and Wolf indicated the man who looked like a grizzly bear. "It'll take a lot to cure him. Not as much for me."

"Based on that concept, I ought to precede both of you," Bartholomew the hawk pointed out. "No, Clarence, we'll stick to the original plan. We'll draw lots while Wilbur is making up the potion."

"What potion?" Adam pressed. "Maybe we can make it synthetically, make up enough for all of you all at once. You don't have to suffer like this. I can help you."

"No, Dr. Kane." Bartholomew was quite certain. "You've helped quite enough, you and all the researchers like you. No, now it's time for someone else to help." He indicated Brennan Mulwray, sitting on the cold cave floor. "Your companion."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shalimar trotted back into their makeshift camp, automatically giving the cookfire a wide berth. Emma was stirring some berries into a vegetarian stew that, surprisingly, smelled rather good to the feral. The tent was already down and rolled up into the pack, ready to go. The other pack likewise was already put together and available for transport to whichever site the pair determined was next likely to be where the menfolk of Mutant X had been marooned. Emma handed over some of her cooking. "Any luck?" Already knowing the answer.

Shalimar made a face. "Nothing yet. The guys haven't been through this neck of the woods, and there's no trace that the Helix was anywhere near here. You?" she asked, having gone out searching well before Emma had awoken to report on her own activities.

Emma sighed. "Nothing more than what I already have. They're still alive, but I think Brennan was hurt. His thoughts felt drugged, as though Adam had given him some pain-killer. And I know they're somewhere in the mountains, but that's all I could get."

"No location, no hints as to where in the mountains," Shalimar moped. "These are big mountains. And a lot of them." She glanced up at the sky. "I wish we could do a fly over. That would eliminate a lot of territory. We'd be able to spot the Helix, I know it." She glared up at the sky, noting the hawk tracing lazy circles among the clouds, looking for breakfast. "Why did I have to be a feline feral? Why couldn't I have acquired some hawk characteristics, like an ultra-light body with some wings?"

"Wait a minute. That's it!" Emma almost shouted it. "Wings! We need wings!"

Shalimar simply looked at her. "Are you crazy? We can't just go hijacking a plane. In the first place, it's illegal. And in the second, with these wind currents, we'd go down faster than you could say—"

"Hang glider," Emma interrupted.

"Hang glider?"

"Hang glider," Emma confirmed. "Low flying, short hops above the trees, looking for signs of the Helix. How much more territory could we cover that way?"

Shalimar began to see. "Miles. Miles and miles."

"And we wouldn't have to look for just the guys. If Brennan is injured, they won't be able to travel very quickly."

Shalimar nodded. "All we have to do is to find a large crashed silver jet." She looked at Emma. "Come on, girl. We've got a plane to catch."

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Adam had already gotten nervous. "Look, it's a really bad idea to experiment under these conditions. There are no controls, nothing in case something goes wrong—"

"Something already has gone wrong, or haven't you taken a good look at us?" Bartholomew waved bitterly at his feathers, and the pelts of his companions. "And, contrary to what you're thinking, this is not an experiment. An experiment is where you don't know what will happen. We already do. We've tried this before, tried it successfully."

"At least tell me the herbs you're using," Adam argued.

"Can't. Don't know 'em by name," Wilbur the grizzly compound said mildly. "Figured 'em out by trial and error. See?" He mashed another several green leaves into the wooden bowl he was working with, holding one up for Adam to take a gander at. "I suppose if you have a picture book we could look 'em up. The plants are pretty common around here." He tossed the leaf into the bowl and stirred.

The contrast between methods couldn't have more dramatic. Adam's lab contained clean dishes, high tech equipment, computers to run simulations prior to any testing on live bodies. There were files containing evidence on both hard copy and on disks, microscopes and Petri dishes, even sinks with running water.

Here there was running water, but it was running half a mile away. Clarence had toted a bucket of water over, and Wilbur was using it in the herbal mash he was creating, using a long claw to stir the leaves into a sticky, gooey mess. There was no Bunsen burner here. The only source of heat was an open fire surrounded by rocks to keep it from scooting off into the brush.

Adam pulled the other two back further into the cave that was doing double duty as their jail cell. "I don't like this. There's something that they're not telling us."

Jesse glanced outside. It looked as though Wilbur was almost finished with his cookery. "I think we're about to find out what. Shall we make a run for it?"

Adam shook his head. "We wouldn't get ten feet from camp. These men are all ferals. They may not look like Shalimar, but believe me, they have all her powers. If by some miracle one of us did manage to escape, they'd track us down as quickly as she could."

"Then what do we do?" Brennan wanted to know, easing his arm back into its sling with a grimace.

"I'm open to suggestions." Adam too looked out at their captors. "Here they come."

The entire crowd of badly mutated bodies crowded around the entrance to the cave, blocking any hope of escape along with blocking the light. Only a few stray photons ambled in over their heads. But the animal musk was pronounced. Brennan coughed at the odor.

"It's time," Bartholomew announced. "Come out of there. You can all watch."

"What are we going to watch?" Adam allowed himself to be hustled out of the cave along with the other two.

"Our transformation," Wilbur rumbled. He looked even more like a grizzly when talking, the sound eerily reminiscent of the bear. He pointed at Brennan. "You. Come here."

"Hey!" Brennan objected as Bartholomew and Clarence grabbed him by the arms. "Ow! Watch the claws! Some of us have plain skin over here."

"Let him go!" Jesse yelled. "Can't you see he's hurt?" He went to go to Brennan's aid, pulling Bartholomew off of the elemental.

Bartholomew was expecting something of the sort. With a speed worthy of Shalimar at her best, he knocked Jesse back.

But Jesse hadn't trained against the feral for years for nothing. He too had been expecting the beast in front of him to respond as a feral, and he instantly phased solid. Bartholomew's fist knocked against a rock hard surface and crunched.

Bartholomew howled.

It turned into a free for all.

Had it been a fair fight, Mutant X would have won. Had it been one on one, Mutant X would have prevailed. Even Adam, with no mutant abilities but with a multitude of practice matches against his own home-grown feral, would have subdued any reasonable opponent.

It was not a fair fight. Mutant X was out-numberedfour to one with a broken wing to add into the unfairness of it all. The mutant beasts jumped onto all three, beating them to the ground and pinning them.

"Jesse!" Adam yelled. "Get away! Bring back help!"

Jesse ground his teeth. It was the right thing to do, but it felt wrong. It felt wrong to turn tail and run, leaving the other two behind.

"Go!" Adam insisted.

Jesse phased, passing through his captors. They lashed out at him but it was like slashing at air.

"Hold," Wilbur rumbled.

Jesse halted. Wilbur held his claw-fisted hand over Adam's throat. Another inch, and the jugular would be severed. Death would occur within seconds.

"Go!" Adam yelled once again from his position on the rocky ground.

"He's a normal," Bartholomew hissed. "He's worth nothing to us. Go. We have the other one."

But Jesse was beaten. It was one thing to go for help. It was another to watch as his mentor spilled his blood into the cold and unforgiving soil, never to rise again. He returned his density to normal, allowing the beast mutants to manhandle him back to the group.

"You should have gone," Adam said bitterly as Jesse was forced to sit on the ground beside him. Jesse didn't say a word, simply watched as the beast mutants shoved Brennan to the center of the circle. What were they going to do to him?

It was as if the beast mutants had read his mind, and Bartholomew the hawk man was in a talkative mood. "Clarence won the pool; he will go first."

"What are you going to do?" Jesse couldn't help but ask. "How are you going to restore your appearance? What is that concoction that you made? Surely you don't believe that it will work?"

"Yes, I do," Bartholomew replied, "because I've seen it work before. It is a very powerful potion."

"All right, fine. I believe you. It works. You don't need us here." Jesse kept himself very still, his arms at his side. Wilbur, on his part, kept his claws at Adam's throat. Adam, ever the scientist however, was fascinated by the scene being played out in front of him.

"Ah, but we do." Bartholomew indicated the scene in front of them. "It's not just the potion. We need a mutant."

"You've got plenty around here."

"Yes, but not perfect ones. That potion that Clarence is holding will allow him to take a better gene sequence from your friend and transfer it to himself."

"You can't know that." Adam finally couldn't keep quiet, despite the danger he was in. "You can't tell how it works. Not in a place like this. Simply 'taking a better gene sequence from someone else' flies in the face of accepted genetic theory. It can't work like that." He swallowed hard against the claws at his throat.

"True. But that doesn't really matter, does it, Dr. Kane?" Bartholomew wasn't smiling. "All that matters is that it works." He gestured to the others. "Go ahead."

Clarence walked up to Brennan, holding the cup with the noxious green liquid. Brennan didn't dare turn around, couldn't stand to look at Adam and Jesse watching him at this moment. _Really good time for Shalimar and Emma to come riding over the hill_. Then, ferals or not, Mutant X would show these beasts what it really meant to be a mutant. _Hear that, Shal and Emma? Any time now._

"Drink this." There was excitement in Clarence's voice, sounding strange coming from the visage of a wolf. "Drink it all."

Brennan could throw the potion to the ground, see it vanish into green colored mud. He could also watch Wilbur slit Adam's throat, and then have another batch of the stuff forced down his throat once Wilbur had a chance to whip up a second cup. Either way, it looked like Mrs. Mulwray's little boy was going to have to drink the nasty medicine. _Might as well make the best of it_. Taking a deep breath, he tossed the potion to the back of his throat and swallowed.

He gagged; the stuff was awful! He forced his stomach to keep it down, staggered as the full noxiousness of the potion made itself felt. Clarence clutched at him, dragged him into a close embrace, waited for the potion to take effect.

Nothing happened.

Brennan went limp in the wolf mutant's grasp, gasping for breath, eyes watering, wishing he could just throw up and get it over with. His legs begged to simply dump him to the ground. Clarence hugged him closely, tighter and tighter as he waited for something, anything, to happen, refusing to let go.

Still nothing.

Clarence released the elemental, puzzled. Brennan groaned; his arm was throbbing in time with his stomach and he was in serious danger of heaving in front of every single beast mutant. Not the best way to make a good impression. Brennan flopped gracelessly to the ground, barely conscious of what was going on around him.

"What happened?" Clarence demanded. "Wilbur, you made the potion wrong!"

"Did not." Wilbur moved away from Adam, the man's throat no longer exposed to danger. But Adam shook his head at Jesse. It wouldn't take much to bring Wilbur back, and now Brennan looked to be incapable of going anywhere. Not a good time to make a move.

"Then why didn't the potion work?"

"I don't know." Wilbur sniffed at the cup. "Smells right." He sniffed at Brennan. "Smells right. But I don't know what a mutant always smells like. Maybe he isn't a mutant?"

"Course he's a mutant!"

"Yeah? How do you know?"

"I saw him throw electricity, that's how!"

"I didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"I didn't see him throw electricity."

"You calling me a liar?"

"Nope. I'm just saying that I didn't see him."

Bartholomew got into the act. "You know, Clarence, I didn't see him throw electricity, either."

"I did!"

Bartholomew glanced up at the sky. The sun was shining brightly. "Could've been a reflection off of something. That would explain it."

"I'm telling you, this guy's a mutant!"

"No, he's not." Adam hurriedly put in his own two cents. "Believe me. I know. Been working with the guy for years. He's one of my lab techs, and not one of the brighter ones. You may as well let him go."

"Thanks, Adam," Brennan muttered under his breath, praying not to throw up. He rocked back and forth on his hands and knees, cradling his throbbing broken arm to his chest. "I really needed to hear that." _Which would come first? The heaving or the passing out?_ Brennan decided that he didn't care, as long as it happened soon.

"Gotta be a reason that the potion didn't work," Wilbur rumbled. "Made it the same way."

Bartholomew came to a decision. "Whatever the reason, we need to start over. It doesn't matter if it's because the potion was incorrect, or this man is not a mutant. We cannot continue. Put these three back in the cave and guard them well. Especially that one." He pointed at Jesse. "We may not all have seen the tall one throw electricity but I myself saw this one go from gaseous to solid just now. He is a mutant. We will use him for our next trial."

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Okay, there were times when being a feral was a very good thing to be. With the grace of a natural athlete multiplied by ten, Shalimar soared through the skies with the ease of a eagle, scanning the ground below for signs of a recently downed jet. Emma trailed off to the distance, fighting her own craft, wondering if there was any way she could lock into Shal's mind and 'borrow' the skills needed to manage steering this overgrown kite, watch the ground below, and keep from crashing into the mountainside. Was that a skid mark left by the Helix? Oops, they'd never know because Emma's hang glider decided of its own accord to dip to the west. Couldn't have been; anything that large passing through a field that broad would leave a scratch mark for miles. Emma was relieved to realize that she wouldn't be required to try and fight her way back to check out a sign that she'd missed.

Shalimar dismissed her teammate with hand signals: _head down to the ground and set up a campsite_. Emma gratefully put the craft on the rocky soil, wondering if she dared 'forget' to tie it up and let it get blown away overnight. Then she felt ashamed of herself; the guys were counting on her. It wasn't their fault that she didn't have Shalimar's skill at just about everything that could be done outside.

Shalimar came in half an hour after the sun settled itself behind the mountains, taking advantage of her feral eyesight to search through the darkness itself. "Nothing," she reported, undecided whether to be thrilled at the chance to fly or disappointed at not yet finding their missing teammates. "Three hundred miles down, only seven hundred to go."

"Shalimar," Emma started to say, when the feral cut her off.

"Emma, I've been thinking," she said firmly. "We aren't covering nearly enough ground like this. The guys could be anywhere in these mountains and we won't find them for a week. And that's assuming they're still at the Helix. We need to maximize our efforts."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we've been using my powers and wasting yours. Look, you've been tagging after me, trying to do what I do, when we both know that you can't. You're not a feral. You're a psionic."

"Okay." Emma was puzzled. "But, Shalimar, I have been using my powers. Every night I check for the guys, see if they're still alive."

"Right. And every night you're exhausted from trying to keep up with me. Don't think I haven't noticed, girl. You wouldn't be able to 'read' your twin sister sitting next to you, you're so worn out."

"I haven't got a twin."

"You know what I mean."

Emma began to see what Shalimar was getting at. "You think that if I'm well rested, I'll be able to get more into the guys' minds, see where they are."

Shalimar shrugged, a little smile on her face. "It's worth a shot." One side of the smile quirked up. "You know how Adam is always yelling at you not to go so deep? Afraid that you won't be able to get out of someone's mind? That you'll be caught there forever?"

"Yeah."

"You won't get that from me."


	4. More Deadly Than 4

Jesse peered out from their cave/prison. Dusk had settled, and the beast mutants had stoked up their fire in order to cook an evening meal. The aroma of charred meat wafted toward the three. Jesse couldn't decide whether to be hungry at the smell or nauseated from the stench. None of their captors, it seemed, were particularly good cooks. From comments that he'd overheard, it appeared that their captors felt the same way. Most had been married with wives who did the cooking before their transformation at the hands of genetics. For that alone, Jesse pitied them.

Adam came up beside him. "You could escape," was all he said.

Jesse shook his head. "No. The moment I'm gone, they'll have no reason to keep you alive and plenty to want you dead. And, since they now think Brennan isn't a mutant, they'll kill him along with you. As long as I stay here, they'll use you as a hostage for my good behavior."

"I can't argue with that logic," Adam agreed, "but have you thought about what they'll do to you?"

Jesse looked uneasily out at the gathering crowd outside the cave. "Brennan lived through it."

"Right." Adam didn't have to mention picking the man up from where he had fallen to the ground outside of the cave last night, or holding him close until the trembling ceased. Without his equipment there was no way of telling what had gone on inside of the elemental, but Adam was grateful that Brennan now appeared to be sleeping it off. Whatever it was, it was a light dose, for the man had violently emptied his stomach of the green mess shortly after being dismissed by their captors. Adam doubted that much of the compound had actually been absorbed. Then Brennan had slept the entire night and day away, and the other two had declined to disturb him.

"Figure out where we are yet?"

Adam snorted. "Right." He pointed up at the sky. The stars were brilliant, clearer for the lack of light pollution that dimmed their beauty closer to sites of civilization. "The North Star, 46 degrees of elevation best I can figure. That means we're on the 46th parallel, give or take a degree or two."

"That's latitude. How about longitude?"

"I figured I could leave that to you."

"Hah. Adam, I'm a child of the new millennium. I use GPS."

"Not that it makes any difference," Adam added morosely. "Even knowing our position won't help. Not unless we knew where the nearest town was. And I don't carry a map in my head of this area."

"Me, neither. Uh-oh. Here they come, and they're not bringing dinner." Jesse looked again. "I take that back. It looks like it's dinner for one. Heavy on the salad." He glanced back at Brennan, still asleep—or passed out—on the hard cave rock floor. "Wish me luck."

Bartholomew and Clarence approached the cave entrance, Wilbur trailing behind with a steaming cup of something appalling.

"Going to give us a hard time?" Clarence looked as though he wished that they would. There was excitement on his face, anticipation mixed with fear, though it was hard to decipher the emotions through the fur, Jesse decided.

"Not this time." _Maybe next_, Jesse left hanging in the wind for both ferals to hear.

Bartholomew eyed Adam balefully, flicking his eyes to the sleeping figure in the gloom in the back of the cave. "You stay here."

"I want to come," Adam objected.

"You can watch from here." Bartholomew drew Jesse forth, careful not to insert his hawk talons into frail human skin. "We'll bring him back to you. Later."

"It's okay, Adam," Jesse said. "Don't rile the natives. Look after Brennan for me. I'll be back."

Adam turned on his captors. "You make sure he comes back. In one piece," he threatened.

The beast mutants were unimpressed, taking Jesse by the arms and guiding him to the main area of their encampment, leaving his teammates behind. What could a mere norm do, when you came right down to it? Especially one saddled with another with a broken arm? The ferals led the molecular away from Adam and Brennan, certain there would be no trouble that they couldn't handle easily.

This was it; the point of no return. Jesse didn't know exactly what was going to happen. Oh, he knew in theory: they would force him to drink some vile tasting potion that would supposedly enable one of the beast mutants to turn back into a human appearing person while retaining his feral mutant abilities. It hadn't worked on Brennan, another mutant, and Jesse saw no reason to suppose that this time would be any different. After all, this was not modern medicine that these poor mutilated mutants were trying, it was a haphazard rotgut of the backwoods. If he was extremely lucky, the potion wouldn't stay down any longer than it had for Brennan, and he too would get off with a light dose of nausea.

Of course, there was always the possibility that this time it contained something poisonous, maybe something he was allergic to, in which case he could look forward to a swift death. _Gee, wonderful thought, Kilmartin_.

Same cup, same horrid smell. Jesse idly wondered how much worse it was for the beast mutants, assuming that their collective sense of smell was as acute as Shalimar's. He couldn't see how it wouldn't be; they'd all displayed her other feral attributes. In fact, the only difference between the two was that Shalimar could pass for a normal human, and these couldn't. Well, that and also that these were all males. Seemed that the late and unlamented Dr. Van Duyn hadn't bothered to experiment on any women. Lucky them. Adam apparently hadn't thought much of Van Duyn as a researcher and Jesse saw nothing that would cause him to question Adam's judgment.

"Drink it." Clarence was growing more than eager. The wolf mutant moved in, baring his teeth instinctively. Jesse took an unwitting step back, imagining those teeth at his throat. It didn't take much imagination.

The others crowded in behind him, pushing him back toward the eagerly awaiting Clarence, all anxious to see if this time the potion would work. It had worked before, they'd told Jesse. One of them had left this merry band of furries and rejoined society. _Right_. Like Jesse would believe that this horrid mixture of vegetable juice, loaded with vitamins and poison, could do such a thing.

He could either swallow, or have them force it down his throat. Jesse chose to swallow.

All right, maybe not such a smart choice. Jesse instantly understood what Brennan had gone through just last evening and gained a great deal of sympathy for his fellow mutant in the process. Fire dripped down his esophagus to explode in his gut with all the delicacy of a nuclear melt-down. His brain did a poltergeist spin inside his head, somehow raking a sawblade around the inside of his skull. He wished that it were true: a saw would take off the top of his head and allow his aching insides to leak out and sink into the ground where he didn't have to admit ownership to it.

Clarence clutched him firmly under the arms, drawing him close, and the smell of unwashed wolf on top of the potion made him gag. Clarence didn't care; the wolf mutant tightened his hold.

Then it began. There were no words to describe what happened; Jesse could only beg for it to _stop_. He felt a pulling, a drain on something deep within him, something essential to life being dragged out drop by meager drop.

Then it was over. He was on the ground. The earth was cold, and Jesse could only be grateful for the coolness after the fire that had just moments ago been tearing at his insides. There was a blurry scene in front of him that he couldn't focus on, but from the jubilant sounds pounding on his ear drums he could tell that several someones were ecstatic.

The sound got very quiet, and very distant. No, it wasn't the sound. It was Jesse. It was Jesse himself who was becoming distant. Sight went first. Hearing went next. Then there was only the agony of feeling his nerves send his muscles into a top-spinning frenzy. And he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

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"Jesse!" Emma found him at once on the psychic plane. "Jesse, what's wrong?"

Jesse blinked dizzily. He could have sworn that he was lying on the ground in the middle of the beast mutants' camp. This cloud stuff didn't make sense. But, since all the pain and discomfort of a few moments ago had vanished, Jesse was willing to make the best of it. He looked around; all there was to see were clouds. And fog—lots of it. Ground was just a memory. "Cool. I'm floating in mid air. Forty six degrees of latitude, and high up in the mountains."

"Jesse, you're having an out of body experience," Emma told him. "This can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. We have to get you back to your body before you're lost here forever. What's happening in real life?"

Jesse giggled drunkenly. "Beats me." He offered a lopsided grin. "Tell you what. You go there and find out. Come back when you feel like it, but not too soon. I'm having fun up here in the clouds."

Emma gritted her teeth and kept her calm. Little lightning sparks halo'ed around her head gave it away, but Jesse was in no condition to notice. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," she lied, knowing that Jesse could easily see through the lie if he chose to. She was betting that he wouldn't. "Where are you? Where's your body?"

"Down there," Jesse laughed. "On the ground." He looked around. "Where's the ground? Isn't there supposed to be a bunch of rocks and caves?"

"I can't see it, Jesse," Emma pointed out. "I can't see your body. Can you show me?"

"Nope. Don't want to. Hurts down there."

"Were you hurt in the crash?" Emma was puzzled. That wasn't consistent with the mind touch from yesterday. It was Brennan that she thought had been injured, not Jesse. Last night Jesse's thoughts had been crystal clear, even if unhelpful as to where the trio was located. What was going on?

"Nope," Jesse leaned over to say confidingly, "this just happened. Just now. Like an hour ago. Bunch of ferals. Gave me poison to drink, 'cause I'm a mutant. They got Brennan, too, but they think he's not a mutant. Stupid ferals. Idiots, every one of 'em." He giggled again.

"Poison!" It was starting to make sense. "Jesse, you have to get back to your body right away. You can't let yourself die! You have to fight!"

"Nah. Too much work. You do it. I'd rather play on the computer. Hey, look, there's one over there." Jesse started to drift off through the psychic clouds in search of his favorite toy.

"Jesse!" This was frightening Emma. The molecular couldn't be allowed to stay here, out of his body. If what he said was accurate, and no one could truly tell a lie here on the psychic plane, then he was dying right now. He had to get back and fight for life!

_No time to waste_. Emma aimed a careful psionic whammy at her teammate.

Jesse jerked in shock, looking back at Emma with an astonished and hurt expression before he sagged into the clouds and disappeared. Emma swiftly hurried to where she had last seen him, to satisfy herself that she had indeed saved his life by returning him to his body.

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Bartholomew and a shaggy older man carried Jesse back into the cave, dumping him on the floor in front of Adam. The molecular was out cold, his color pale, his breathing harsh and rapid.

"What did you do to him?" Adam demanded, swiftly kneeling to examine the young mutant.

"Who are you?" Brennan added to the older man. There had been no 'normals' in camp except for Adam, and certainly no one who looked as human as this one did here in this crowd of misbegotten mutants. There was something about the way the older tilted his head, something familiar about his voice…

"You!"

The older man bowed. "Clarence Witherspoon, at your service, gentlemen. No, actually, I'm not really at your service, not under these circumstances, but it's a great line. I could never resist using clichés." He indicated the unconscious mutant at his feet. "Your friend there has been at _my_ service. He was really quite useful, as you can see." Clarence preened, examining first one arm and then the other for the excessive shaggy fur that he had possessed just an hour previously. Muscles rippled beneath the pale flesh, evidence of frequent exercise in this wilderness environment. "Skin. I can actually see it. Wonderful. I had been wondering if this day would ever come." He beamed, his cold gray eyes finally seen clearly without wolf fur covering them. The process had left him with a five o'clock shadow moving on toward ten o'clock at night, but it was obvious that whatever the potion was, it had worked. The wolf man had finally turned back into a man. "A wonderful day."

"It may be your last," Brennan growled.

"It won't be," Bartholomew interrupted. Feathers still framed this mutant's face, and it was obvious that Bartholomew was eager for his own turn to morph. "Not today. Perhaps tomorrow. He's strong; he may last another day beyond that. We're all hoping for more."

"What do you mean?"

Bartholomew indicated the food that they had brought in with them. "Better see if you can wake him up, get him to eat. Build up his strength. There are twelve of us here—eleven, now that Clarence has been cured—and we all want the same cure. The last mutant that we tried this on only lasted for two of us. We're hoping for better results this go-around. We probably won't be able to fix all of us, but even three would be an improvement. Know any more mutants, Dr. Kane? Man like you, you have to know a lot of mutants that would be useful for us." His eyes narrowed. On the hawk-like features, it was truly scary. "We can get that information out of you."

"You're mad," Adam declared, rising back to his feet. "You're killing Jesse, just so that you can look better, so that you can pass in normal society without people talking about you. You're ready to kill as many mutants as it takes for your own desires."

"No, Dr. Kane, we are not animals," Bartholomew declared. "We live by the laws of nature, but we are not animals despite our appearance. We only take what we need. This is one life for three or more." Bartholomew nodded at the unconscious mutant. "He's giving us back our lives."

Adam wasn't done yet. "Look, I'm sorry that genetic science didn't live up to your expectations, but _you_ were the ones who went to Dr. Van Duyn for help. You all had irreversible genetic illnesses that were going to kill you in a year or two if not sooner. He cured you of those illnesses. You're alive right now because of him!"

"This is not living!" Bartholomew snarled back. "This is death! And we're doing something about it!"

"Yes, by killing another man! This is not right!"

"You wouldn't say that so easily if it were you inside this fur coat," Bartholomew replied bitterly. He gestured one last time. "Help your man, Dr. Kane. Yours is an exact science, but ours is not. Maybe we'll be wrong. Maybe he'll live after helping all of us."

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"Well?" Shalimar demanded.

The only good thing about waking up inside this tent was that Shalimar was standing over her and blocking the early morning sun from beating up on her eyeballs. There was very little else to recommend wakefulness: last night's excursion had been a difficult one. After finding Jesse and forcing him back to his body, Emma had searched the Overworld for signs of her other missing teammates and had come up empty.

That didn't necessarily mean anything. When it came to psionics, no news was not automatically a bad thing. It simply meant that she wasn't able to touch their minds. It could mean that both Adam and Brennan weren't sleeping, or were sleeping so lightly that their spirits hadn't been released to the higher planes.

Or it could mean that they were dead.

Emma didn't think so. Jesse had been in trouble last night, but hadn't said anything about the other two. Knowing the molecular, if his teammates had been dead or in danger of dying, Jesse would have been more concerned about their welfare than his own. No, chances were that the other two were in the same spot as Jesse, and unable to extract themselves. Which meant that she and Shalimar had to keep looking.

"I'm not certain," Emma replied. "I found Jesse. He said that they had been found by some ferals."

Shalimar straightened. "That's good. They're mutants."

"They're mutants, but I don't think that's good. Jesse said that they had poisoned him." Emma quickly filled Shalimar in on the details of what she had discovered from Jesse.

"Not much to go on," Shalimar said thoughtfully. "Forty six degrees latitude. That rules out the edges of our search area. A degree is still a pretty big chunk of landscape, especially when you include the up and down parts, like mountains."

Emma nodded. "And if there's two inches around here that doesn't have boulders, than I haven't seen it."

A thought struck Shalimar. "But you said that Jesse talked about caves." She pulled out her purloined topographic maps. "Let's concentrate on the areas where there are caves."

Emma nodded, starting to get excited. "We can eliminate the caves where the tourist traps are. I can't see a bunch of mutants holing up where everyone can come and gawk. Not the type of mutants that Jesse described."

Shalimar agreed. "If they're ferals, then they live in the forest somewhere. That means away from towns and cities. Let's rule out any area ten miles around sites of civilization."

The two women bent over the map, new clues firing their enthusiasm. And their determination.

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"Am I dead yet?"

Adam knelt by the molecular lying on the ground. He'd cadged a couple of tattered blankets to make the man more comfortable, one serving as a makeshift pillow against the hard and cold ground of the cave doing double duty as a prison. It seemed to have worked. Sometime during the night Jesse had passed from unconsciousness directly to a much needed and peaceful sleep, much as Brennan had the night before. _At least this poison of theirs follows a pattern_. "Welcome back to the land of the living. How do you feel?"

Jesse did a swift internal perusal of his body. At least, he thought it was swift. Adam, used to the brilliance of the young man beside him, knew that it was taking far longer than usual. "Thoroughly wiped. Like someone had grabbed my insides and yanked them all out."

"That's a pretty good description of what happened." If this had been Sanctuary, a safe place to cope with advanced treatment right at hand, the comment would have been accompanied by a chuckle. "I can't be certain, but from what I've been able to gather from talking to these mutants, their potion works by using your mutant genes to re-align their own. You feel 'empty' because they really did pull at your genes. Somehow the concoction that they fed you searched your genetic structure and then transferred the appropriate parts to Clarence's own body. The resultant reaction caused an acute adjustment in his genetic attributes and turned his skin back to human." Adam paused. "This could be a whole new advance in genetic science. Assuming I can get a sample of that potion."

"Assuming we get out of here alive," Brennan added sourly. "I'd settle for that."

Adam nodded. "I'll be satisfied with getting my sample from Jesse's bloodstream. And grateful for it." He looked around for what seemed like the hundredth time, searching for an escape from this situation. It didn't look good. He knew without asking that Brennan's arm was hurting him but that the elemental would rather die than complain. Not in a situation like this.

Not good. And so frustrating. Here he had two of the world's most powerful mutants as well as his own vaunted mind power, and they couldn't get themselves away from a group of untrained ferals. _C'mon, Dr. Kane. It's time to start using those brains of yours. What else do you have to offer Mutant X? What's going to happen when they find out that you need them more than they need you?_

He couldn't help it. He was only human. He slammed his fist against the back wall of the cave in frustration, welcoming the spots of blood that sprang to the skin of his knuckles. The cave wall echoed hollowly in sympathy.

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"Nothing!" Shalimar slapped the boulder beside her in frustration. "Nothing! No sign of any of them, no sign of the Helix! How can you hide an entire jet?"

Emma yawned. She'd slept through the day, recovering from the night's psychic hunting and preparing for the next, but she never truly felt rested when sleeping during daylight hours. "It's a big country, Shal. We'll find them."

"Yes, we will!" Shalimar snarled. "We'll find them if I have to turn over every rock in this state!"

"How far did you get?"

"I covered this side of the mountain." Shalimar settled back down. Her anger vented, she was ready to get back to work. She pulled over the map. "Here. I searched from here to here, looking in all the crevices. No sign of the guys, no sign of the Helix. I couldn't tell if there were any nasty little ferals lurking in the brush; I wasn't low enough in the hang glider to tell that. I'm going to assume that any feral has a basic understanding of how to hide under a tree."

"That's probably a good assumption." This time Emma stifled her yawn. _Time to wake up, girl!_ She stretched, forcing ground-stiffened muscles to loosen and relax. She looked over the map. "We need to change our base camp, move on to another area. Any suggestions?"

"That's your department," Shalimar told her. "Me, I'm the hunting version. You're the one to come up with lucky guesses. What strikes your fancy? The other side of this mountain? Another mountain all together?"

Emma stared at the map, hoping a hunch would make itself known. "We know that the guys are being held in a cave. Are there any caves on the other side of this mountain?"

"None known," Shalimar replied, "but that doesn't mean much. The other side of the mountain is pretty wild, not well mapped." She cocked her head. "In fact, it would be a wonderful spot for a bunch of ferals who didn't want to be found."

Emma looked serious. "Then I think we ought to check it out before we give up on this mountain. I'll pack up the tent. Once we set up a new base, I'll go out in the Overworld for a little of my own hunting."


	5. More Deadly Than 5

The sun dipped low on the horizon. Adam looked up at it, judging the time, and then over at the mutant mountain cat that had been assigned to guard them. The furry half-man half-beast lifted a corner of his mouth in an eerie and silent snarl of warning: _don't try it_.

_As if I had any intention of doing so_. Brennan could probably take down half a dozen of these ferals before they overwhelmed him through sheer numbers, and Adam himself could account for another two, maybe three. But not all of them. It would be suicide, and Bartholomew had already made it quite clear that Adam and Brennan were only still breathing because they needed a lever for Jesse's cooperation.

Which was another joke. Cooperation was not difficult when the man doing the cooperating was sleeping. Jesse had woken up twice during the day, asked for something to drink, and promptly fallen back asleep. Which was probably the best thing for him after last night's research project for turning badly mutated humans back into something that could pass for _homo sapien_, but didn't make Adam feel any better. Not for the first time he wished that they were all safely back in Sanctuary where he could draw blood samples and care for the team that he had grown so close to. _Dangerous ground there, Dr. Kane. How will they feel when the day comes that you have to leave them behind? Brennan has guessed that you have hidden secrets, and probably Emma, but how will you cope with the shock on the face of the young man sleeping on the cave floor in front of you? How badly will the knife stab your heart when Shalimar looks at you with disappointment written plain?_

Not useful now. At the moment, the goal was to escape with both mutants intact. Brennan was safe from the poisonous potion as long as the mutants didn't think that he was one of them. Brennan would be Adam's ace in the hole. With a broken wing, the man wouldn't be as lethal as usual but could still make a good accounting for himself and surprise would enhance that opportunity. Brennan himself had automatically seen that—_score__ one for the street-wise kid_—and had refrained from using his powers since the first night. At the moment the man had seated himself on the ground next to Jesse, leaning his back against the cave wall, eyes going hooded and smoldering with anger. _Just give the word, and I'll blast as many of these bastards as I can. Just give the word._

All right, so they had fire power to rely upon. Not enough. The beast mutants had enough speed to overwhelm that advantage. Needed more. _What? C'mon, Dr. Kane, stretch those brain muscles for something other than some basic chemistry_.

Think logically. Escape. In order to escape, they needed to put distance between them and the beast mutants. And it needed to be a lot of territory, so that the speedy ferals couldn't catch up with Mutant X trying to limp back to civilization.

No, wait a minute. Bad assumption. It didn't need to be a _lot_ of distance, it just needed to be some place that the beast mutants couldn't get to. Then the trio could either duke it out from safety or wait for Shalimar and Emma to find them. Two additional mutants would even things up quickly. And it was no assumption to think that the rest of his team would be searching for them; it was a fact.

Okay, distance was out. Adam, Brennan, and Jesse could never outpace the beast mutants even on a good day. Maybe Brennan alone, if he weren't injured, but the other two: never. Where else? Up high? That had been done. _Been there, done that, crashed the Helix out of the sky, Dr. Kane_. _Think of something else_. And fast, because nightfall was approaching with another mutant cocktail for Jesse to drink, one that he might not survive this time. _Think!_

Adam's gaze lit on the bruised knuckles of his fist, the blood that formed a scab after futilely punching out the back of the cave. Adam Kane despised senseless displays of violence, and the fact that he himself had given in made it worse. Yet there was something that had caught his attention, some little detail that was niggling at his brain…

Hollow. That was it. When he struck the back of the cave, it had echoed hollowly. And the back ofa cave wouldn't be hollow unless there was an opening behind the unbroken wall. An unbroken wall that no one could get through. No one, that is, except a molecular mutant able to alter the density of a wall at will…

And that was assuming that the cavity behind the back of the cave was large enough to hold three people. Adam dampened the first flush of hope. Even just two would be enough; Adam was willing to sacrifice himself so that the others would live. It would only be fitting. This mission had begun because Adam had wanted to get that psionic mutant to the Underground commune where he could live in peace and safety. The three of them were here because of Adam.

He rose. "Keep an eye on Jesse," he instructed Brennan.

Brennan lifted one eyebrow. _You've got an idea?_

"Maybe." Adam began to tap lightly against the back of the cave wall, rapping where he had struck the wall as his starting point. He moved upward, listening to the sound waves, using the echoes like a human sonar. "Tall enough," he murmured, "and down to the ground. Maybe a little bit further. Moving right. Three feet, good for two people squeezed; yes, another three feet to the left. We can all fit," he told Brennan, "assuming that it's deep enough. I have no way of assessing how far back this pocket goes."

"Or if there's another way out," Brennan suggested, catching on immediately. "There might be a back door."

"Hm. True." Adam hadn't even thought that far ahead. _Score another one for the street. Always look for a way out._

"Let me listen." Brennan hauled himself to his feet to tap on the wall himself. "Sound is very deep. It's probably a good-sized pocket in there." He glanced back at Jesse, still out cold on the floor of the cave. "You're thinking maybe Jesse—?"

"Got a better idea?" Adam tried to keep his tone light.

"I could blast our way out." Trying to protect the one the elemental perceived as being the weaker member of the team, to relieve him of the responsibility for their escape. _Another wrong assumption_, Adam wanted to tell him. _We all make them. Me most of all._ _Yours is that you consider Jesse weak. Me, I know better_.

"Then what?" Adam responded, tilting his head. "We walk out of here? Which way to the nearest all night diner, Brennan? And what happens when Bartholomew and the rest catch up with us?" He indicated Jesse. "They're going to keep coming after him until he's dead. These are desperate people, Brennan, and desperate people do desperate things."

"Got that right." Brennan slapped the cave wall for emphasis. "Witness what you're suggesting. I don't relish being caught inside a stone tomb with no way out."

"Worst case scenario, it's a respite from these mutants and a chance for Shalimar and Emma to find us," Adam said. "Best case, there's a way out far from here, and we escape to the local five star hotel where we wait, basking in a hot tub, for Shalimar and Emma to pick us up."

"I can live with that. Let's see if we can wake up the man with the key to this door."

But at that moment the opening to the cave darkened. Bodies filled the entrance, bodies with unwashed shaggy fur. The musky odor was stifling. Bartholomew pushed to the front of the pack, looking at the two in the back of the cave warily. It was from them that any danger lurked. Adam and Brennan were the two on their feet, the pair that was able and willing to fight back. "It's time. Wake him up."

"No!" Brennan came to alert. "No, you can't take him! Haven't you done enough to him?"

"No," said Bartholomew, "we haven't."

"He hasn't done enough for _us_ yet," Wilbur added, a cup of the steaming green potion in his paw. Even without feral senses Brennan could have gagged on the stench. In fact he _had_, two nights ago. Had it really been that long that this nightmare had been going on? _Yo, Shal, Emma. A little help over here?_

_Gotta find us first._

"Bring him," Bartholomew directed.

Two of the beast mutants started to pick the molecular up off the floor, but Adam stopped them. "No," he said. "We'll get him." He lifted his chin challengingly. "This may be the last time we see him alive." As in: _don't try to stop us_.

Bartholomew too knew when to pick his battles. He graciously accepted the free labor.

Adam slid his arms under Jesse's back, lifting him up bodily, Brennan going for the other side.

"Adam?" Jesse asked sleepily, clearly not wanting to wake up.

"It's all right, Jesse." Adam shook his head warningly at Brennan, an imperceptible little movement. _No. Not yet._

_Yes_.

_No. We have to let this one play out_.

_Yes! He's going to die if we don't._

_No! He might not die. We can't risk it. We'll lose everything._

_Yes!_ Brennan suddenly slipped his broken arm out of the sling and dumped Jesse's limp weight onto Adam. He flashed lightning from his fingertips, taking out two beast mutants in one swift strike. Another went down with a booted heel in his gut, Brennan heedless of the pain that the broken bone was inflicting on himself with every move he made.

No help for it now; the cat was out of the bag. Jesse wavered to a standing position, recognized the danger they were in, and used all the adrenaline at his disposal to create a pile-driver out of his arm and smash it into a nearby nose. The mountain lion mutant yelped and went down. But the cat wasn't done yet. He bounced back to his feet and slipped inside Jesse's guard with the speed of—well, the speed of a mountain lion.

Adam too joined into the fray. One long leg connected with a back kick that rang someone's chimes, and he followed it up with a blow that had an odd feel to it: hitting a bear's snout was different from giving a man a shiner.

The results were different, too. A man would have gone down under the onslaught. Wilbur, with his grizzly bear mutation, simply shook it off. The almost negligent return slap from that grizzly paw slammed Adam into the hard cave wall. Adam slid down the cold surface, stunned.

Bartholomew jumped forward, grabbed Adam by the throat, hawk talons ready to dig into his jugular. "Hold!" he hissed.

Brennan halted. One of the beast mutants, one with a badger's silver stripe through his hair, sucker-punched him in the arm: the broken one. Brennan went down gasping, clutching the fractured bones, and the only fight he was then capable of was the one to continue breathing during the remainder of the pain.

Wilbur ambled bear fashion over to Brennan, ignoring the agony the man was in. He nudged him with a bear claw. "Guess he is a mutant," he rumbled. "'lectrical type. Wonder why the potion didn't work on him? Made it the same way."

"You'll have plenty of time to try it on him again." Bartholomew was ready to rub his hands in glee, only one hand was still occupied in threatening Adam with talons. "We know it works on the molecular. Bring him out. It's time."

"No!" Adam burst out. "You'll kill him! Don't do this!"

Wilbur lost interest in Brennan for the moment. He looked sideways at Adam, calculating. "Y'know, Bartholomew, the guy's a doctor."

"And—?"

Wilbur indicated the potion that he carefully set down outside of the fray. "That stuff that I make is pretty potent, and this kid is gonna get weaker and weaker each time we use it. Let's have this guy watch. He wants to have this mutant live as long as possible as much as we do. Maybe he'll have some good ideas."

"Maybe he'll come up with a way to escape," Bartholomew pointed out. His talons tightened on Adam's throat. Adam tried not to move.

"Not if we keep someone here with Mr. Lightning Rod," Wilbur rumbled. "All you gotta do is rap him one on the wing if he gets too mouthy. Gotta keep him around too, 'cause this one ain't gonna last for all of us." He jerked a hairy thumb at Jesse.

Bartholomew agreed to the plan. "Darryl, you stay here. You lost the lottery to go next; you'll have a lot of incentive to keep another mutant alive and kicking so that you'll get a chance at the potion like the rest of us. Don't let him escape."

"Believe me, I won't." The expression didn't looked forced on the wolverine's nose but it did look ferocious. Brennan glared back.

"Now you. Both of you." Bartholomew turned to Adam and Jesse. "On your feet. One wrong move, and I'll show you just what a feral mutation can do."

_Wait until Shalimar gets here. You'll learn things about ferals you never knew existed_. _Especially the pissed off female kind. Ever hear the one about the female being more deadly than the male?_ But Adam kept his thoughts to himself, slipping a supportive shoulder under Jesse's arm and guiding him out into the open mountain night.

The campfire sent flickering shadows among the rocks. The beast mutants gathered around, eager to see one of their own transformed back into human, on the outside if not on the inside. There were high cliff walls around the encampment, preventing the fire from being easily seen. These people were truly a different form of feral, Adam realized. Shalimar would never have welcomed a fire in any fashion if she didn't have to. Even when camping, the feral only allowed it for the others. What other differences had Van Duyn's process produced, he wondered. The fur, the appearance, the fear of fire? Was it affecting their minds?

Jesse stumbled; two mutants grabbed him by the arms, keeping him upright and immobilizing him. They pushed him toward the center of the group, closer to the campfire where the weasel man was waiting impatiently.

"Give it to him," the weasel mutant said eagerly.

Jesse had no choice. There were more than enough beast mutants to hold him fast and force the steaming potion down his throat. He gagged; they refused to relent, pouring the entire contents of the cup into his mouth and securing him until he swallowed. Adam watched in horror as Jesse sagged limply into the grasp of the beast mutants.

"Me! Give him to me," the weasel beast mutant demanded. "It's my turn to be fixed!" He clutched Jesse to his chest in a horrific parody of a hug, squeezing until Adam was certain that the molecular wouldn't be able to breathe. Jesse shuddered, the potion coursing through his veins. He tossed his head back with a sharp cry.

Then it happened. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Adam would have denied that it was even possible. Even now, witnessing it, Adam still couldn't believe it. The change occurred.

The weasel beast mutant was large, large enough to completely envelope the molecular in his grasp. They almost seemed to melt together, so closely did the beast hold the human. Their edges wavered; Jesse gasped in sudden agony as the two exchanged.. _what?_ It had to be some form of DNA, that Adam knew, but how?

No matter; it worked. The shaggy dark pelt slipped away to reveal flawless tan skin, the only hair remaining of the top of the man's head. The transformation revealed a man not much taller than Jesse himself with red hair and, like Clarence before him, a five o'clock shadow working toward ten PM. He raised clear eyes to scan his unfortunate fellows, a sense of wonder suffusing his suddenly pale features. "It worked!" he breathed in awe. "I'm _me!_" He felt his suddenly hairless skin all over. "_I'm me!_"

He released the molecular, Jesse staggering back until caught by Adam's strong and waiting arms. Adam carefully lowered the man to the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head. "Jesse?"

Jesse didn't respond. Small movements in his arms and legs began, little rhythmic jerkings that coalesced into larger ones. Fear clutched at Adam's heart.

Bartholomew stood over them. "What's wrong with him? It's over. Tell him to go to sleep, like the other times."

"What's wrong with him?" Adam kept his attention on his patient. "He's seizing. He's about to go into a grand mal seizure, that's what's wrong with him! You poisoned him; that's what's wrong with him!" _Dammit__, what I wouldn't give for a syringe filled with benzodiazepine in my back pocket!_ "Help me turn him over so that he doesn't aspirate."

Too late. The small jerky movements turned into one large and massive contraction, contorting the molecular into a parody of human. Breathing stopped.

"Jesse!" Adam's own heart stopped. "Dammit!" He tried to tilt the head back, ready to breathe for the man, but the muscles wouldn't respond. The molecular was as stiff as though he had phased rock solid. "Jesse!"

Then, for the second time in less than thirty minutes, the amazing happened. A slender mist emanated from the molecular, barely visible in the erratic light of the campfire, and molded itself into the outline of a young woman. A woman with red hair that framed her face with wispy bangs, with eyes of an old soul that looked straight through each and every person there.

It took every ounce of self-control that Adam possessed not to blurt out, "Emma?" For it was so clearly the psionic member of Mutant X that for a moment Adam feared that one of the beast mutants would read the truth on his face and strike the terrified blow that would end the apparition—and Jesse's life.

Not a word was said out loud. The beast mutants stared at the ghostly figure, some trembling in fear and ready to bolt, others with the fur standing up on the back of their neck in an unconscious animalistic threat display against this intruder into their camp. But there was nothing to strike at, only mist. The girlish head slowly, almost lazily, rotated in a circle, taking in every detail of the camp, every rock and every tree, memorizing the location. The eyes paused on Adam, and the scientist would later swear that he felt a delicate tickling in his mind.

_But it was all imagined—wasn't it? Ghosts aren't real, don't appear in anything other than fiction and blatant attempts to separate fools from their money. That's what the beast mutants will think._

This was Emma.

The mist faded away along with the seizure. Jesse took a deep, sighing breath and turned over in Adam's arms.

It was the signal for the beast mutants to panic. Several dashed away from the campfire into the night, others throwing dirt over the blaze to douse it in terror. Shouts rang out mixed with animal bleating. Wilbur himself gave a bear howl that told of his distress at not understanding what had happened. Clearly this was not something that any of the beast mutants had anticipated.

"What did you do?" Bartholomew demanded of Adam. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" _Got to stay innocent, here_. "This is _your_ potion, Bartholomew. I had nothing to do with it." Adam indicated the molecular in his arms. "I'm here as an interested observer, and as a doctor. And right now, this man is dying. Hear that, Bartholomew? No more mutant to use in your experiments. If I don't get him stabilized, he'll die."

_That_ got through to the hawk mutant. "We have the other one."

"Who didn't work with your first try," Adam reminded him. "What if he can't help you at all?" _Which is what will happen if I have anything to say about it_. "He's an elemental, not a feral. You might not be compatible."

"Got that right," came mumbled from the direction of a beast mutant of the badger persuasion who'd been zapped earlier in the fight. A streak of burned fur lay across his shoulder.

"Fix him," Bartholomew demanded, his terror already receding in the face of more immediate pressures. "Keep him from dying, or you'll be next."

"You don't need threats to get me to work on him," Adam returned calmly, keeping his temper under wraps. "He means a lot more to me than he does to you. Help me get him back to shelter. The night is cold. It'll be a toss up which kills him first: your poison or pneumonia."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma woke Shalimar up excitedly. "Shalimar! I saw them! I saw Adam and Jesse!"

"And Brennan?" Shalimar dashed the sleep from her eyes. The sun was ready to come up; it was time to rise no matter what.

"No, I didn't 'see' him but I could tell he was nearby. Adam knew where he was."

Shalimar was all business. "Tell me what you saw. I'll compare it with our topo maps."

Emma nodded. "They're not inside the cave any longer but they are in some sort of enclosed cliff area; a campsite. I got a good look around the immediate area. They're high up on one of the mountains. All I saw were pine trees, nothing that grows lower down. And the pine trees were fairly stunted, as though they were close to the snow line."

Shalimar pursed her lips. "That helps. That cuts off the lowlands, and it gives us a narrow band to search on each mountain. Good going, Emma. You've eliminated at least two-thirds of the area to search. What else?"

Now Emma's face fell. "I saw lots of things, but I'm not certain that it will help us. Tall cliffs, a big bonfire. Maybe we could see the fire from the air."

"Maybe," Shalimar mused. "Two problems: one, we're short one Helix, and forgot to bring along the spare. We can't get up into the air. Wait, I forgot; we don't have a spare." She smacked her forehead in mock exasperation.

"And problem number two?"

Shalimar grew serious. "There is a very efficient and motivated Park Ranger Service in these parts. The threat of a forest fire is one the Rangers take very seriously. The people who have our guys must have a way to hide any fire so that it can't be easily seen, otherwise the Park Service would be all over them. Looking for a fire in the night is not going to help us."

Emma had to agree. "I'm sorry, Shal. I can't be any more specific than I have been. I mean, I'll know the place when I see it again, but I don't know where it is in relation to where we are right now."

"Not to worry." Shalimar gave her team mate a jubilant hug. "We'll find them. And you just single-handedly cut down the amount of territory to cover. I'd say that was a big accomplishment, girl!"


	6. More Deadly Than 6

Brennan bit back a curse. "Ow. Take it easy, Adam."

"Sorry." Adam re-fastened the make-shift splint on the elemental's arm, helping him to slip it back into the equally make-shift sling. "I can't tell for certain, but I think the bone is healing extremely quickly. Which makes sense; it's been well-documented in medical literature that small amounts of electricity can encourage bone growth in hard to heal fractures. If we're lucky, your own mutantcy is doing the same for you here and now only without the 'hard to heal' part. I'd like to get you back to Sanctuary and take a few x-rays over the next week, just to document the speed of recovery. And give you a little more calcium to make up for what your bones are using."

"Wonderful. And how does that help us get out of this mess?" There was a healthy dose of sarcasm, but the underlying feeling was sincere. Brennan adjusted the sling to a more comfortable position.

Adam's return smile was lop-sided. "Well, for one thing, it would mean that we were home instead of here."

"Okay. Point taken." Brennan glanced over at the sleeping figure at the side of the cave. Adam had won his argument with Bartholomew and the other beast mutants. They had given him two blankets somewhat worse for wear to keep away the cool air of the mountain nights. The blankets reeked of animal musk and had holes in them, but were better than nothing. As Adam had pointed out, the beast mutants had as much or more to lose by allowing Jesse to die prematurely.

Or so they thought. Adam and Brennan had another idea in mind.

"It's getting dark," Brennan mentioned. "Think they're going to come back soon?"

Adam agreed. "I don't think we can wait any longer for Jesse to wake up. Okay, go make a fuss at the door. Ask for some water, whatever. Something relatively innocuous so that they'll look us over thoroughly and then leave us alone. Don't annoy them too much, though. We want them to ignore us for a while. Give us some room to work."

"Leave it to me." Brennan sauntered over to the edge of the cave. There was the wolverine, Darryl, on duty, and Brennan blessed the circumstances. From things he'd overheard, the wolverine wouldn't be up for the miracle cure for several opportunities, which meant that his attention span was somewhat limited by boredom. That would only last for so long; as the pool of recipients got whittled down, the beast mutant would get far more interested in their continued health and well-being as well as their immediate location. Brennan casually leaned against the cave wall, going for inoffensive, staying far enough away from the beast mutant so that blows couldn't be exchanged yet close enough for conversation. "How about some water?"

"Get it yourself."

_Great conversationalist_. "You don't really want me out there, wandering in the camp, do you?" _Wouldn't that liven things up? Not to mention keeping you on my tail._

Heavy sigh. "Hey, Boris. Get this bozo some water, will ya?"

"Get it yourself."

"You want I should leave these guys unguarded? You get it."

Another heavy sigh, this one gusting from a mutant with musk ox leanings. Brennan held his breath until the foul stench wafted away. Then held it again when the musk ox mutant ambled back to hand over a chipped mug with some poorly defined liquid inside.

"Thanks." Brennan accepted the mug, being sure to glare at the wolverine for not being faster about the whole affair.

Darryl smirked. "You're next, spark plug. Maybe I'll be the one to suck out your DNA."

"I can hardly wait." This time Brennan didn't bother to hide the sarcasm. Darryl the wolverine turned away to watch Wilbur the bear over the campfire, preparing the concoction as he had yesterday, and the day before. The preparations for the potion were far more interesting than watching a few helpless prisoners. A handful of powder here, a few leaves there, and a blue-colored flame shot up periodically to glow in the darkening sky. Inside the cave was tiresome. The prisoners weren't going anywhere. Walls all around, and Darryl himself at the entrance—no, the captives were stuck.

Just as Brennan had a few moments earlier, Jesse bit back a curse. "Ow. Take it easy, Adam."

"Sorry." Another echo of the previous victim of Adam's ministrations. "Where does it hurt?" He probed gently into Jesse's mid-section.

Gentleness didn't help. Jesse curled around his hand, batting him away, trying to drag the groan back inside. "Yeah, that's the spot," he managed.

Adam looked serious, pulling his hands away and motioning to Brennan to bring the water closer.

"Adam?"

Adam's eyes said _not now_. "Jesse, try drinking a little water. It will make you feel better."

"Gonna throw up."

"Try anyway. You're getting dehydrated."

"Okay. But don't get in my line of fire, Adam." Jesse allowed the pair to help him to a sitting position, Adam holding the cup to his lips. "Aargh. This is water?"

"Straight from the nearest clear mountain stream, bro. That's all they've got up here. People pay good money for this."

"Straight from the stream through the nearest mud bath, you mean." Jesse coughed, doubling over until the coughing stopped and he could sit back up. "What's been happening while I played Sleeping Beauty? It seems fairly safe to say that the girls haven't found us yet."

"No, not yet." Adam eased the man back against the cave wall so that he could sit up without human assistance. "I'm thinking maybe we'd better come up with an interim plan. Just until they get here."

"Sounds good to me." Jesse closed his eyes. "Let me know when you've figured it out."

"We've figured it out, Jess," Brennan said immediately.

"That was fast." Jesse didn't move. "Let me know when you've implemented it."

"We need _you_, bro."

"Great. How 'bout another plan?"

"Fresh out." Adam kept his voice sympathetic. "You feel up to phasing?"

"No."

"Tough." Brennan hooked his hand under Jesse's arm. "Back of the cave. Now, bro."

"There's a way out back there?"

"Sort of." Brennan kept pulling. Adam too slid in on the other side, forcing Jesse to his feet. "But if we don't take this chance, we're not going to get another. They're coming for you, bro. Soon. And you won't be walking away from this next one."

"Okay." The longer he was on his feet, the more coherent Jesse seemed to become. "Escape before Goldilocks has to drink the Three Bears' nasty porridge again. I think I can handle that concept."

"Now you're getting the picture." Adam stopped them in front of the back of the cave. There was nothing to see, and little light to see it in: just a smooth and dark gray interior wall surface. "We need you to phase us through this wall. Then you can go back to sleep," he added as an incentive.

But Jesse balked. "There's a way out through there?"

Adam tried to back-pedal. "We think so. We think there's a large enough chamber—"

"Adam, in case you don't remember, small spaces are not my favorite type of place to be." Jesse was all awake now. It was amazing the effect that adrenaline had on people.

"I know that, Jesse, but we don't really have much of a choice—"

"Adam, what if it's too small in there for us all to fit?" There was no mistaking it; Jesse's voice was climbing.

"Jesse, I don't think that's the case—"

"But you don't really know!"

"Jesse, we don't have any other options, man!" Brennan stepped in. "We're crunched, and we're getting more crunched every night we stay here. In another hour, you might not be alive and I'll be next on the menu."

"We could fight—"

"Been there, done that, got our asses kicked." Then Brennan softened his tones. "Face it, bro. Right now, you're our only hope. Either you phase us into that back cave or the only thing Shalimar and Emma will be retrieving are our gnawed up bones."

"It's up to you, Jesse," Adam added quietly, appreciating the struggle the man faced.

Jesse's jaw tightened. "There really isn't any other choice, is there?" It wasn't a question.

_Battle__ won_. "There could be a back door exit, someplace that these mutant guys don't know about," Brennan offered. _Fool yourself into believing that, bro. We need this_. "All we need is some breathing room, some time for the girls to find us."

"Back door." Jesse didn't believe it. He looked at the smooth gray of the cave wall, a mere few inches from safety. A temporary safety perhaps, but safety none the less. All it would take would be a little mental exertion, a sighing exhalation.

The light at the front of the cave darkened. Bodies filled the entrance, and an all too familiar stench of a steaming green potion steeped through the air.

"It's now or never, Jesse." Adam stepped in front of the beast mutants' target, placing himself between the molecular and the beast mutants, determined to fight. He'd lose—these were ferals—but Mutant X would go down fighting. Yesterday no one had had a chance to escape a battle; the trio had been too far away from the back of the cave to implement Adam's idea. Today, positioned at the back of the cave, Jesse with his hands on the cave wall, was a different story. Adam readied himself. _Even if his two protégés escaped_…

Brennan had the better idea. Ignoring the sharp stab from the broken bones, he slipped his arm out of the sling. Electrons crackled; lightning flashed.

Darryl the wolverine went flying back. As the first one in, he had the dubious honor of being the first one to go down. That, however, turned into a very large signal that the captives were not about to submit tamely this time. The snarling, therefore, was entirely expected and warranted, as was the wild rush forward from the beast mutants.

"Jesse!" Brennan yelled. "Do it now!"

There really was no other option. Exhaling, Jesse placed both hands against the cool gray stone—

—and phased.

Adam grabbed Brennan by the collar, yanking him backward to tumble through the not-opening that Jesse had created. The three slipped through, the cave wall plunging them into darkness as it snapped back into Euclidian space. The howl of frustrated rage from nearly a dozen animalistic throats cut off suddenly, the sound chopped in half by the solidity of the wall now separating the prisoners from their erstwhile captors.

_You did it, Jess!_ was what Brennan wanted to say, but the actual verbalization of relief had to wait until the pain of landing on top of his broken arm receded enough for him to breathe and catch his breath. By the sound of the retching in the background, it didn't matter. Jesse wouldn't be listening to anything Brennan had to say for the next few minutes, either.

To say that it was dark inside the cave pocket was an understatement. Night could be described as dark, illuminated by stars and a sometimes rather bright moon. Even cloudy, there was enough ambient light from fireflies to make out shadows and small movements that would coalesce into actual figures once the eyes had adjusted to the lack of excessive photons.

This was black. There was no source of light whatsoever, no fireflies, not even phosphorescent moss to glow in the dark. In order to reflect light, one must have it in the first place and that was not the case here. Eyesight was totally useless.

Not so the sense of touch. That, in fact, was the most valuable. Adam's questing fingers touched slime along one wall as he cast about frantically for his team mates. He found Brennan first.

"'m okay," the elemental gasped. "Where's Jesse?"

"Over here." Adam found his other team mate a moment later, his heart sinking. "Brennan, get over here! Help me hold him; I think he's seizing again!"

_Damn oh damn oh damn_. Brennan rolled over, broken arm forgotten, to clutch at the man he considered closer than a brother. He found a flailing leg first and grabbed on, finding the other and holding them close to prevent any further injury than that which was already happening. He could hear Adam himself cursing helplessly, railing against the beast mutants, wanting some magic potion of his own in a syringe that he could use on their teammate.

Then _it_ happened again. Brennan hadn't seen it, but Adam had. Though Adam didn't understand how it could work, he had seen too many things not immediately explainable to ignore this.

There was no light in the cave pocket, but the mist didn't need any. It generated its own. It seeped from the still thrashing molecular, slowing the seizure until it stopped. Then the mist concentrated on its own agenda: a slender doll-sized figure with red hair wisping around the head coalesced into pseudo-reality. "Adam?"

"Emma?" Adam immediately recognized the tiny figure. There were no features, nothing to say that it was the psionic but somehow both Brennan and Adam knew that it was no one else. "Emma, help! You have to hurry!"

"I know." The mist looked serious. "Adam, Brennan, we're hurrying but we don't know where you are."

"At the moment, neither do we," Adam responded bitterly. "Jesse phased us into a sealed cave, so we're safe from the ferals for a little while—"

"—unless they know a back door in," Brennan injected.

"Unless they know a back door," Adam repeated, acknowledging the correction. "How close are you to locating us?"

"We've narrowed it down quite a bit," the mist told them. "We know you're in a mountain setting below the tree line but still high up. That lets out the valleys, rivers and streams, as well as the cities and towns. Shalimar is searching through the forests."

"Don't let her get too close!" Adam exclaimed, alarmed. "Tell her not to get caught!"

"Why?" _Why are you holding back the one mutant who can take these mutant ferals down?_

"It's a theory that I'm working on." Adam refused to be more specific. "Just tell Shalimar to be very, very careful. She mustn't allow herself to get caught."

"All right." The mist craned its head, looking at something only it could see. "I'm sending Jesse back now. He's had enough. This isn't good for him, you know, Adam."

"Not like we've had much choice in the matter. Tell Shalimar to be careful."

"I will." The mist faded away, and Jesse sighed. The tremors stopped, and he went limp in their grasp.

"Jesse?" Brennan suddenly had a terrified feeling that they were holding a dead man. "Adam?"

"It's all right, Brennan." Adam was closer to Jesse's head. "He's breathing. And sleeping. Very common after a grand mal seizure."

"Is that what that was? Because I thought it looked a lot like Emma."

"I don't really understand it, myself," Adam admitted. "Emma has told me that it's a lot easier to make contact with people's minds when they're asleep, or 'cut loose' is how she puts it."

"And Jesse is 'cut loose'?"

"Emma helped him back." Adam dodged the question.

"And the seizure did all of that?"

"A seizure brought on by whatever that potion was," Adam reminded him. "Emma just took advantage of the situation, and then helped Jesse overcome it."

"So it's not gonna happen again, right? I mean, we got Jesse away from them. No more potion means no more seizures, right?"

"I hope not." Adam looked around, not that it helped in the Stygian darkness.

"What do you mean, 'you hope not'?" Brennan too sounded on the edge. "Don't you know?"

"No, I don't, Brennan." Adam was having a hard time keeping his own cool. "I'm working in the dark. Literally in the dark. I have no tools, no equipment, no lab, one mutant with a broken arm and another who could die at any minute, and a dozen feral mutants who would like nothing better than to get their hands on _you_ right after they finish murdering Jesse. _Does that sound like I have things under control?_"

Brennan calmed down. "Adam, I'm sorry." He too looked around, also forgetting that sight was totally useless under the circumstances. "We need to get out of here. And not back the way we came."

"Then start feeling around," Adam said. "How big is this pocket? And is there any way out?"

"I've got a better idea." Adam could hear the elemental rustling in the dark. "I happened to pick up a chunk of wood, back at the ranch, before making our escape. A few finger-snaps—" electrons flickered in the blackness, too bright now that eyes had adjusted to nothingness—"and we have light." Brennan held up an inch thick branch, the top building a solid flame from his efforts. Light danced from the meager torch to the edges of the cave pocket. Adam shielded his eyes until they had a chance to become accustomed to the influx of photons.

Adam eyed the make-shift torch in calculation. "That should last for a least another hour, maybe two. All right, we have an hour to explore. Let's make the most of it." He glanced down at Jesse, still lying on the cold floor, a trickle of blood spotting the corner of his mouth. He didn't like the man's color, tried to tell himself that it was merely bad lighting that did it. It was hard to lie to himself: Jesse was dying. Poisoned.

"Adam?" Brennan had seen the expression on their mentor's face.

Adam bit his lip. "Let's just get him out of here."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shalimar took no pleasure in crossing off mountain number three. "They're not here."

"Only six more to go." Emma was equally not pleased, perhaps more so since she had carefully not told Shalimar quite how desperate the situation was. On her last trip to the psychic planes the evening before, Jesse had been huddled in a corner of his mind, trying to detach himself from unpleasant reality. It had broken Emma's heart to force him back but to do otherwise would have been to lose him forever. And that Emma wasn't willing to do. _Tough love, girl_.

"This is not fast enough," Shalimar snarled. "They could be dying, for all we know!"

_They are_. Emma carefully didn't voice the comment. She didn't need to.

"And why did Adam tell me to be careful and not you?" Shalimar went on. "There has to be a clue here somewhere, something that he told you!"

"They're in a cave," Emma repeated. "Adam told me that they've bought themselves a little more time, that they're safe for the moment. It won't last forever, but we can still find them."

"How?" Shalimar couldn't sit still. She petulantly slapped the map. "We need more information to go on! Which of these six peaks is it?"

Emma gazed off into the distance, looking at the mountains rolling away from them. All six mountains were clearly visible to the naked eye, all but one snow-capped. And all looked impossibly far away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brennan sniffed. "It's fresh air, Adam. I don't know how far back it goes, but if the air is fresh, then there's a connection to the Great Outdoors."

"What does it look like?"

"What else? A long tunnel with no light at the end of it. Which makes sense. It's still night outside." Brennan brought the torch closer to his wristwatch, removing the light source from the distressingly narrow passageway. He'd have to crawl through most of it that he could see, and slide through the rest on his belly. His broken arm ached in mere contemplation alone. "Five AM." He glanced back at the other two. Jesse hadn't yet woken up, but the dim torchlight made Adam look far older than his years. "You want me to try it?"

"Don't have a better option, and there's no way that Shalimar and Emma will be able to find us in here. Go for it."

Brennan nodded, his features looking oddly satanic in the flicker of the flame. "You want to keep the torch?"

Adam considered, but shook his head. He adjusted Jesse's limp form in his arms, trying to make the molecular more comfortable. "We know what it looks like in here. You'd better keep it, in case you have to make a decision about the best of two paths."

"Yeah, but I have my own built-in flame-starter."

"And nothing to set on fire," Adam pointed out. "We're lucky that you brought this piece of wood with you. Take it. I'll stay with Jesse. We'll follow if he wakes up."

"I'm counting on it." Brennan turned back to the narrow passageway, pushing his way through and leaving a scraping of skin behind. "Ow."

And behind him he could have sworn that he heard Adam mutter, "if six foot Brennan can make it through, it'll be a cakewalk for Jesse and me."

_Yeah, right_. Brennan dropped to his knees, shoving the torch before him, trying to keep the flame at the highest point to prevent it from eating up the wood too soon. It felt like the entire mountain was on top of him and ready to crush him into mush. The tunnel was tiny; Shalimar would have been able to scramble along at a good clip but the one time that Brennan tried it he nearly cracked his skull open on a rocky protrusion. That slowed him down, and he learned to be more circumspect.

And the rock was slimy with condensation. Moss grew here and there, pallid white stuff that suffered from the lack of good, clean sunlight. It got all over his hands and clothes and Brennan decided on the spot that if he ever got out of this mess he would take a hot shower for a week and not come out. The only thing the moss had in its favor was that it was resistant to the torch. With so much water soaked up into the primitive plant, burning was not a reality. Which was a good thing, because the flame kept hitting the sides and the ceiling and the floor of the tunnel, sometimes at the same time. Brennan held his breath and squeaked past another narrow spot.

Another five feet, and the tunnel would open up. Brennan could see it just beyond the slight bend up ahead and denied himself the half-pleasure half-agony of looking at his watch to see how long it had been. The other two were okay. He had to believe that. The comm. links wouldn't work this deep under this much rock and he didn't have Emma's psionic powers, but Brennan had to believe that the other two were all right. That Jesse had woken up and was even now fussing over being in tight quarters. Jesse never liked being closed in. Adam had once theorized that it was part of what provided that last little shove for Jesse to be able to use his mutant talents to phase. _You can't be closed in if you can slide through the wall._ Right now Brennan could understand where his teammate was coming from. This _walls closing in_ feeling was getting to him, too. _Hm__. Wonder if I could suddenly turn molecular?_ He tried closing his eyes and exhaling.

_Rats_.

He tumbled into the sudden large cavern, the floor a good four feet below him and littered with rocks. Brennan yelped as one of those rocks dug itself into his broken arm, and he spent several precious moments simply clutching onto himself until the pain receded far enough away to make thought possible. He looked around, and grinned. What he saw made the pain worth it.

Good points: large and roomy, big enough not only to stand in but jump up and down. Water running through in an underground meandering stream and when Brennan brought the torch closer he could see several anchovy-sized pale white fish darting through the water. Even better point: Brennan could smell fresh air. Really fresh air, not stuff with a slightly mildew-y tang from being underground for more than six months at a time. Best point of all: there was an honest-to-Murgatroyd opening to the outside world. Brennan could see the welcoming light of the dawn seeping in.

But into every life a little rain must fall: the opening was some twenty feet above Brennan's head. And whatever local nature deity had designed the cavern had neglected to add in a step stool.

And there was no other way out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shalimar's eyes turned golden, and she surveyed the forest in front of her. Everything impinged upon her senses; nothing went unnoticed. Not the songbirds twittering in the trees, not the fox trying to remain incognito behind the gorse bush, and certainly not the mountain lion high on the cliff almost a quarter mile away. The air brought the scents of over a hundred different wild animals that had passed this way, the older scents washed away by a passing rain storm two days ago.

But no sign of her teammates.

Not that Shalimar had expected to find them. According to Emma, the guys were safely trapped behind stone walls in a cave with no way out except through the good graces of a molecular whose health was a little uncertain at the moment. No, what Shalimar wanted to discover was traces of the soon-to-be-extinct band of ferals that had caused all this mess—and Shalimar was not in a forgiving sort of mood. Adam wanted Shalimar to be careful? She would: she would be _careful_ not to leave even one standing and able to do more than whimper 'uncle'. _No one_ messed with Shalimar's pack.

"Anything?"

Shalimar shook her head angrily. "We'll set up camp so that you can sleep. I'll do a fast circuit around this mountain, but I don't think I'll have any luck. Any ferals here would be likely to do a lot of wandering. It's what I would do if I lived here. Which means that I would have already scented them." She calmed herself. "Nice place, though."

Emma smiled gamely. The night time work was getting to her, and last night had been particularly trying. She set up the tent where Shalimar told her to, knowing that the feral was putting her teammate in some place safe from the local grizzlies. Then, if the last two days were any indication, before she left the area Shalimar would mark the territory with keep out signs in typical feral fashion. So far the ploy had been successful; Emma had slept undisturbed and rested and ready to take up her own night's vigil. That rest had been the only thing that had kept Jesse from leaving his body forever. Emma needed it, so that she could protect Jesse in the Overworld.

Both mutants got at their own particular tasks.


	7. More Deadly Than 7

"No. I can't."

If Jesse's voice was a few tones higher than usual, Adam didn't comment. Instead he focused on the important part of the conversation. "Jesse, we can't stay here and I don't think phasing back into the outer cave into the midst of those ferals is the most sensible course of action. I understand that you don't like small places—"

"I don't like it in here either, Adam. This is no bigger than a walk-in closet. I need to get out."

"And you don't have to stay in here. Look, because of the dark you can't even see what's around you—"

"—and that's the only thing that's keeping me sane right now, Adam. There's a floor beneath me, and I can wave my arms. And I can hear a very short echo that tells me that this is a very small room."

"Jesse—"

"Out, Adam. I need to get out of here. Now."

"So let's follow Brennan."

"Into that tiny hole? No way—"

"Brennan did it," Adam interrupted. "Are you telling me that he can do something that you can't?"

"Not a problem, Adam. Lots of things he can do that I can't. Throw electricity, for one. Chug really bad tasting micro-beer, for another. And he has the mother of all gifts for picking bad dates. I could go on—"

"Please don't." Reverse psychology hadn't worked; Jesse had been reared on it. Time to bring out the big guns. Adam put as much command into his voice as he could. "Like it or not, you're going, Jesse. You can either go willingly, or I will drag you. So move!"

Silence. Shocked silence.

"Jesse?" Adam kept his voice stern.

"I'm going." Bitter. Defeated. Hurting, inside and out.

Gloating was not part of the picture, but Adam felt a certain grim satisfaction—and dismay. He had expected at least another five minutes before Jesse caved in—no pun intended—and the fact that the man hadn't fought harder spoke volumes of the damage that the beast mutants' cocktail had done. Jesse was a hurting puppy, and Adam wouldn't be able to tell how much internal damage there was until he could get him back to Sanctuary. They had been lucky that Jesse had been able to phase them into this cave pocket in the first place. Would he be able to phase them out? Would he _live_ long enough to be able to escape with them? Not for the first time Adam wished that he knew what was in the ferals' potion.

He reached out in the darkness, taking Jesse's arm and guiding him to the narrow passageway, feeling the minute tremors going on under the skin. Terrified tremors, Adam hoped, and not the build-up of another seizure. That would be bad. Adam hadn't expected the last one, the one where Emma came and spoke to them; in fact, he'd been surprised and worried that it had occurred. It _shouldn't_ have occurred: Jesse hadn't had any more of the beast mutants' potion in twenty four hours, and the effect _should_ have been wearing off.

Obviously not, which meant that the poison was still circulating in the molecular's bloodstream. The scientific wheels started turning in Adam's head, making up for the lack of visual sensory input. If the poison was still circulating, then there was no way for Jesse's body to excrete it. But Brennan had felt no effects aside from a momentary nausea. Why? What was different about the two?

There was always the obvious. Though they both were mutants, one was molecular and the other elemental. The techniques that Adam and his fellow researchers had used on each had been very different, as different as Dr. Van Duyn's methods were that produced the beast mutants that they were fleeing from. Producing a molecular power required different techniques and protocols than producing an elemental.

Hm. Basic science had to be the answer; it always was. How did the pair utilize their gifts? Brennan essentially re-aligned the neurons in his body each time he wanted to fire off a lightning bolt, sending a shriek of electricity through those neurons and out through his fingertips. He used his own physiology and bent it to his will.

Jesse went a step further in the scientific chain. He didn't _use_ his physiology as much as literally defy the laws of physics. He somehow mentally reduced the cohesive force between molecules, possibly between the elemental particles themselves, and passed the matter through. Or he increased that same force to the point where an oncoming force met its match. Not for the first time Adam wondered if he should bring in a physicist to work on the problem, not just a physician with a scant knowledge of nuclear physics.

Adam bumped his head against a rocky protrusion. "Ow." Light flashed in front of his eyes, but it was the light from the stars that he saw and not any physical manifestation.

"Adam?" Jesse used the excuse to stop. Adam could hear him panting, out of breath.

"I'm okay," Adam replied. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm here," Jesse said peevishly. "I'm fine as long as I keep my eyes closed."

"Jesse, it's pitch black. There's no light. You don't need to close your eyes."

"Yes, I do. It's easier to pretend that way."

Adam left it at that. If it worked, fine.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brennan positioned himself underneath the hole to the outside. The opening wasn't large, and there was precious little to grab onto, but sticking his head above the dirt and stone had become very important. He had to see what was going on in the outside world. Would the beast mutants be waiting for him? Had they known that this place was here all along, and were just waiting for their captives to present themselves once again for easy pickings? If that were the case, then Brennan decided that a quick and final fight would be the best way to go.

This was going to be tricky. He needed to blast himself up to the hole some twenty feet above his head, grab onto something to hold himself there, look outside—and do all of this with one arm in a sling.

Piece of cake.

_Right_.

_Okay, the sling goes_. Brennan prudently slipped the broken arm out, knowing that it wouldn't work very well but that at the very least it would help him to balance in his upcoming flight. Taking a deep breath, rocking on the balls of his feet, he looked up at the bright light streaming in high above.

_Whoosh!_

The blast of electrons rocketed him skyward, the roof of the cave the only thing between Brennan and freedom. He reached for the opening, intending to hang on to the lip of the hole, to drag himself up and out if at all possible. Brennan snagged the edge, his power moving him just high enough to get him to the edge—_internal smirk. Judged the distance just right._ _I'm damn good_. He hung on by his fingertips, dangling in mid-air.

_Okay, now what?_

_One-handed pull ups. You can do this, Mulwray. You've done it before. You've done one hundred of them at a time. Well… fifty. Twelve. Okay, they're a bitch to do, but you've done one-handed pull ups before and you can do it again and you're going to do it now._

Brennan heaved. _No, don't frantically swing the feet, that will only dislodge your hand and your grasp is precarious enough as it is._ Brennan slowly, agonizingly hauled himself up to the lip of the hole. He could see the grass trying to grow in, bending blue-green leaves and turning the dirt solid with a thick mattress of roots. Damn, the hole was barely as big as his head, didn't see how he was gonna be able to get out and look around and send up a smoke signal for Shalimar and Emma. More grunting, more hauling, and inch by hard-won inch Brennan lifted first his head above ground, then to the level of his eyes—he stared at the world outside the deep cavern below. Mountains, all around, all snow-covered, and all far away—

—and he crashed back down to the hard cave floor when the root-matted dirt finally tore loose.

He could've sworn that he didn't land on top of his broken arm, but it sure felt like it. He curled around his pain and declined to do anything else for several long, long minutes. The world would have to wait.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Not a trace." Shalimar had gone all the way through angry, raced through disgusted, and was now working on discouraged. She dropped to the ground in front of the plate that Emma was dishing out, staying as far away from the campfire as she could, feral-style. "Not a _damn_ trace of any of them. No Adam, no Brennan, no Jesse, and no feral mutants." Tears were close to the edge. "Another mountain to cross off the list."

"Which means one less that we have left to search." Emma refused to give in to Shalimar's black mood. "There are only five remaining, Shalimar. And you've been covering a mountain every day. Shalimar, you've been searching over a hundred miles each day. That's an incredible amount of territory. You can't blame yourself."

"But we haven't found the guys yet," Shalimar returned bitterly. "They could be dead by now."

"They're not." Emma was positive. "I'd know. And I'll going searching again tonight, see if I can speak with Jesse or Adam again, see if they have any more information to give us. We're getting closer all the time, Shalimar. We'll find them."

"We'll find them," Shalimar echoed. But her shoulders drooped.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jesse's voice held a real note of panic. "Adam, I have to get out of here. I need to phase out of here!"

"No, Jesse!" Adam commanded. _What a time for Jesse to start losing it._ They were several yards down the narrow passageway, rocks above, below, and all around them and not a trace of Brennan or the outside world. Adam didn't blame Jesse for his panic; Adam felt that way himself. _World closing in_ put it pretty well, even for someone not cursed with claustrophobia. And as narrow as this tunnel was, turning around to get closer to Jesse was simply not going to happen. "Don't! This is the middle of the mountain; you'd never make it far enough. You'd materialize inside solid rock!"

"I have to get out of here!"

"Don't phase!" Adam insisted. "Jesse, listen to me! Listen to the sound of my voice! You can do this. Just close your eyes, listen to my voice. I will get you out of this. I _will_ get you out of this."

"Adam—"

"Not a sound. Keep your eyes closed. You have your hand on my ankle; I'm leading you forward toward Brennan and the way out. That's why we haven't seen Brennan. He's found the way out. He's outside, Jesse," Adam lied. "He's in the fresh air. We're going to him, out of here. We're getting out of here. This is the fastest and shortest way out."

"Out of here." Jesse was making a good faith effort to cooperate. "Adam, this is a very narrow passage."

"And it's going to get even more narrow." Adam could feel the slender tube of rock with his hand, and he refrained from wincing over the slimy fungus that grew along the edges. "Just remember, if Brennan could squeeze through, so can you. There are advantages to being the shorter member of the team."

"Yeah? Bet you can't name another one." Still trying to cooperate.

"Basketball," Adam shot back.

"B-ball? How does being shorter than Brennan help with basketball?"

"You keep winning, don't you?"

"Yeah, but that's because I'm just naturally better at sinking hoops."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Jesse retorted.

Adam smiled. His young team mate already sounded better, his attention on something other than his current predicament. But—

"Adam, it's getting smaller in here." And Jesse's voice was getting weaker.

_Spoke too soon. Or thought too soon. Whatever._

"It'll open up soon," he said reassuringly, trying to tell himself that the weariness in the molecular's voice wasn't getting worse. Then, with surprise: "Hey. There's a light up ahead. I think it's Brennan."

"I thought you said you already saw Brennan's light." Barely audible. But still complaining gamely.

Adam ignored the complaint. "C'mon, Jesse. We're getting out of here. It's not much farther."

No answer. And the hand clutching his ankle for guidance and support slipped away.

"Jesse?"

No answer.

"Jesse, wake up. This is not the time for a nap." Adam grew alarmed, and frustrated. The tunnel was barely big enough to contain him, and turning around to look at Jesse was out of the question. "Jesse, wake up!"

No answer. Adam's heart plunged.

No help for it. The only possible way to go was forward, with or without Jesse. Backing up wouldn't help. It was some several yards to where the dim light flickered ahead of him, and hopefully a place where there was enough room to turn around and go back for Jesse, to drag the man to where Adam could work and save his life. Another thought terrified him: what if Jesse, unable to cope with his claustrophobia, had tried to phase out of the tunnel? "Brennan!" he called.

"Adam?"

_Yes!_ "Brennan, what's your situation there?"

"There's a way out, but it's a little difficult to get to." _Understatement of the week.__ Willing to build a ladder, Adam, but need the tools to do it with. And the lumber. And the nails. A credit card would help; we can buy an extension ladder with a lot of sturdy rungs._

"How large is it where you are?"

"Pretty big. Like four times as large as my bedroom back at Sanctuary."

"Good. Listen, I've got a problem here."

"Let me guess. The problem's name is Jesse."

"You got it." The levity touched neither of them. "I don't know whether he's unconscious or has simply lost it in these tunnels, and I can't turn around to check on him." Adam refused to believe that their teammate was now dead, re-materialized in the solid granite of the mountain.

"Yeah. Pretty tight quarters. You've got like twenty feet of tunnel, and then you're here."

"Good. Listen, I need something to pull him out with. Is there anything there that we can use as a rope?" Adam was already tugging himself forward, squirming around the rocky outcroppings toward the light and Brennan, leaving Jesse behind. Praying harder than he'd ever prayed before.

Brennan looked around. And looked around some more: nothing. Rocks and boulders. A slender stream with stupid white fish. Even the tree roots that dangled from the top of the cavern were too thick to bend or too tiny to provide the needed support.

No help for it. He pulled his arm out of its sling. _Don't know why I have this_, he grouched. _Not really using it_.

Adam slithered out of the tunnel, nearly falling on top of Brennan as he too tumbled the four feet down to the cave floor with a startled shout. Brennan couldn't help the grin; in the dim light allowed by the hole at the top of the cave, Adam looked a mess. He was covered in pallid white slime, clothes ripped and torn, and had somehow picked up a shiner in the last twenty four hours. _Must have been in the last fight_, Brennan surmised. _Didn't do too much looking at each other after Jesse phased us into the cave. Not enough light to do the looking with_.

Adam had other things on his mind. "Rope?" he asked.

Brennan held out the remnants of his shirt and sling, the tatters torn and knotted into nearly four feet. For the first time Adam really looked at Brennan, and noted that the elemental was now shirtless.

"Best I could do," Brennan offered.

"I'll take it." _Beggars can't be choosers_. Adam hoisted himself back up into the slender tunnel, using a nearby rock for leverage to slither back in, the make-shift rope in his hand. "Stand by to help pull us out." And Adam disappeared into the gloom of the tunnel.

"Drop in again," Brennan invited to no one in particular. He flexed his arm in its splint, the wood holding the bones steady. _Okay, one good thing about this entire mess: my arm is definitely on the mend. Hopefully I'll live long enough to see it heal entirely._ He sighed, and stepped up onto the same rock that Adam had used and peered into the dark and foreboding tunnel. He sighed once again, and went in after his mentor.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Adam found new rocks and stony outcroppings that he had missed on his hurried passage through the tunnel the first time, with each protrusion armed with an obsidian knife edge, he was convinced. _I can spend my convalescent time counting the number of bruises_, he thought. _Just let me get my team out of here alive_. The make-shift rope that Brennan had cobbled together was clenched in his hand, rubbing along his own flesh to add rope burns to the bruises.

He squirmed his way over and around the narrow tunnel, heedless of the blood he knew he was leaving behind. How far back had he left the molecular? In the dark it had been hard to tell. It was in the slender portion of the tunnel; Adam knew that if he got to the point where the passage widened up enough for him to crawl on hands and knees then all was lost. That _Jesse_ was lost, phased into solid rock. _Someday, someone will dig him up like an old fossil and wonder how _homo sapiens _managed to get caught in rock several millennium years old. Won't that confuse the archeologists of the future?_

His questing hand found something soft—and it wasn't slime. It had fingers! Adam seized the hand, went for the wrist, and felt for a pulse. For one horrified moment he thought that it wasn't there, but no: there it was, slow and steady. "Jesse?"

Nothing. No answer.

But the pulse was there, and the flesh warm and reassuring. _Where there's life, there's hope._ The tunnel was too narrow to check anything else, and Adam had to content himself with tying the rope around Jesse's wrists to use as a tool to help them progress toward freedom. Then began the arduous journey back to the cavern that Brennan had found, inch by hard-won inch, wriggling backward and then pulling the limp body along.

It took far too long, but there was no better option. Sight was worse than useless; Adam kept trying to squint to better his eyesight toward the molecular and, as always, lack of light defeated him. He found himself wishing futilely for a chromatic to be part of his team just so that he could see Jesse and reassure himself that the man was still breathing. _Drove that one away, didn't you, Adam? Wonder where that particular chromatic ended up, and how she's doing for herself? Never mind; if past history was anything to go by, she'd turn up someday, out for his blood. Just like all the other mutants he screwed up with. Great epitaph for his tombstone: Adam Kane, the man with good intentions, currently on the road to Hell._

Something—some_one_—grabbed his ankle. He almost yelped until he realized that it was Brennan, scooting along behind him.

"It's okay, Adam." It was good to hear Brennan's voice, deep and reassuring. "You're about ten feet from the opening. You got him?"

"I've got him." Adam was pleased to be able to offer his own reassuring words.

"Alive?"

"Alive." Adam nodded, even though the gesture couldn't be seen. He squirmed back another few inches, drawing Jesse with him. A rock scraped his ankle, and he could feel another trickle of blood leak into his sock. Damn.

Then he felt Brennan grasping that ankle, heedless of the blood, to drag him more quickly toward the opening. Adam grabbed onto Jesse's wrists, both of them, not bothering with the rope, and allowed the elemental to haul them both out of the narrow tunnel. _Knew I kept the man working out for some reason_. Broken wing or no, the man was strong. It wasn't just for his mutant abilities that Brennan Mulwray was part of Mutant X. Three arms man-handled the molecular down to the cold and hard floor of the cavern that Brennan had found.

First things first: Adam took advantage of the meager light that the hole in the roof of the cavern allowed in to examine his patient and didn't like what he saw: color poor, a trickle of blood edging one side of his mouth. Bruises all over, but that could be from both the fights back at Beast Feral Central as well as the rough passage through the cave tunnel.

"Adam?" Impatiently.

"I'd like to get him out of here." Adam side-stepped the implicit question. "Soon. And your arm needs treatment as well, something better than a couple of sticks and a tie."

Brennan wouldn't let him dodge the issue. "What did that poison do to him? And why am I not like that?"

"Good question."

"And you have something close to approaching an answer."

Adam sighed, realizing that Brennan wasn't going to let it alone. He tugged out a handkerchief that he had in his pocket, using the clear stream to moisten it to wash the dirt and blood off of Jesse's face. "I'm working with a lot of unknowns here, Brennan."

"So, make a guess. You've done it before."

"All right." Adam sat back, satisfied with the cleanliness but not the condition of his patient. "Best guess: it has to do with the fact that he's a molecular and you're an elemental."

"Didn't think it was the color of my hair."

Adam ignored the interruption. He peeled back an eyelid and tried to peer inside; the meager light defeated that forlorn hope. "Your mutation takes advantage of the electrical structure of the body. The body works on electrical impulses: the heart beat is controlled by electric signals from the brain, your muscles are told to work by electrical signals coming again from the brain. What your mutation did was to enhance those electrical conduits to the point where you can power up the voltage of that electricity and direct it to another point outside your body. That's an over-simplification, but it's pretty much how you work."

Brennan nodded. This was not new information to the elemental. He had researched his own condition as thoroughly as he was able, soon after meeting Adam and Mutant X. "And Jesse?"

"That's a little more difficult to explain." Adam frowned, collecting his thoughts. "Jesse's own mutantcy is based on the fluid nature of his cells. One way to describe it is that the molecules in his body are in a constant state of flux. They don't remember whether they're solid, liquid, or gas. Only Jesse's unconscious control keeps him solid. Then he takes _conscious_ control of himself and phases into another state of matter. It's kind of like willing your heart beat to speed up or slow down. Difficult, but some people can do it."

"But he can do that to other objects. Like creating door in solid walls."

Adam nodded. "Right. Again, under conscious control, Jesse has learned to extend that power over the state of matter to things that he is in physical contact with." _And I really wish that I had a nuclear physicist on the team to help me learn how he does that_. "And that brings us back to Bartholomew and the others. Somehow, through sheer coincidence or luck or I don't know what, they've come up with an herbal preparation that bypasses the conscious control that a molecular has and allows them to alter their feral state of matter to one that is more pleasing to the feral. From what they've said, I think they experimented on another molecular that they kidnapped, much as they did us, and didn't realize that they needed a molecular. They thought that they only needed a mutant with reasonably good looks."

Brennan started to understand. "So they grabbed me, thinking that I could help them." He indicated his team mate, still asleep on the cold cave floor. "So why am I not like him?"

Adam smiled. "One, you never really got much of the potion into your system. You never digested much; you tossed your cookies just moments after they forced it down your throat. Two, and more importantly, they weren't able to get you to shift your molecules. You don't have the proper mutancy to do that, and I think that is the major issue at hand. Jesse is recovering from some major density shifts. You know how wiped he is after those. They require a tremendous effort."

"Right." Then—"and?"

"And?"

"And?" Brennan repeated, starting to cross his arms and thinking better of it when the bones in his arm objected. He settled for cocking his head.

Adam had the good grace not to push any further. "The potion that the ferals came up with has managed to de-stabilize Jesse's body," he admitted reluctantly. "That's how it works. The density is de-stabilized, and they used that to alter their own body chemistries and DNA. I'd love to get my hands on a sample," he added wishfully. "It would advance the state of genetic science by a decade at least. For molecular mutantcy, though. Wouldn't do much for elementals and psionics. Might work on ferals," he mused. "Hm. Feral to feral transfer." He came back to himself. "That's why I told Emma to tell Shalimar to keep her distance. The potion doesn't work on you, Brennan, but it might on Shalimar."

"Emma." That brought up the other issue that had been plaguing the man. "How are we talking to Emma? I mean, this is the first time I've ever seen her materialize like that. Has she always been able to do that?"

"I have to admit, I'm clueless on that one," the older man said wryly. "Of all the mutations, psionics is the one I have the hardest time researching and studying. One day I'm convinced of one thing and the next something happens that sends all my theories out the window. Even Emma herself keeps saying that psionics is more an art than a science, and it's times like these that I'm inclined to believe her."

"But we _did_ communicate with her?" Brennan insisted. "It was really her, and not a figment of my imagination?"

"Oh, you saw her all right," Adam agreed. "And yes, communication did take place. I don't think it will ever replace our comm. links, but it'll do in a pinch."

"So how about now?" Brennan asked. "How do we get it to work? Are we being 'pinched' enough to try it again?"

"I'd rather not." Adam looked pointedly down at the sleeping molecular. "Every time it's happened, Jesse has been in a post-ictal state. He suffered a seizure," the scientist translated. "A seizure is where the electrical impulses in the brain go haywire; it's like when all the software in the computer tries to work at the same time. The computer freezes, and, essentially, so does the brain. My best guess is that Emma somehow took advantage of that situation to come through and communicate. But I don't recommend it as a routine form of discussing current events." He gestured at the sleeping mutant. "Witness the results."

"Right. No seizures." Now Brennan understood. And now that he understood, he could go back to worrying at the current problem. "So how do we get out of here?" He jerked his thumb at the hole high above their heads, the opening allowing only a meager stream of photons to enter. "We seem to have forgotten to bring a ladder."

"Hm. Yes." Adam turned his attention to the immediate issue. "I see two problems: one, it's not large enough to get through and two: it's too high. All right, one at a time: Brennan, do you have enough juice left to enlarge that hole?" _Basic science time again, Mr. Wizard. Only this time science may help._

"Yeah, but it's not gonna be quiet. And those ferals have good ears."

"Can't be helped," Adam decided. "We need to get out of here now, get you and Jesse to civilized help. Most of the noise should be concentrated down here inside the cave. If we're lucky, the ferals will think that it's just a minor earthquake, or even a truck rumbling by on a nearby highway."

"There are no nearby highways," Brennan pointed out. "We've been looking for them, remember?"

"Whatever. Go for it, Sparky."

Brennan shrugged. Whatever happened now, they were in control of their own fate. Brennan could blast out the hole at the top of the cave, and he did. Taking careful aim and carefully regulating the amount of wattage, he shot a lightning bolt of electricity that carved out a man-sized hole at the top of the cave ceiling. Rocks and debris showered down upon them.

Brennan brushed the dirt off of himself, now grateful that he was bare-chested. One less thing to get dirty. _Never liked that shirt much anyway_. "Adam?"

Adam crawled back to his feet from where he'd flung himself over Jesse to protect the injured man from the rocks. He surveyed the results: the hole was large enough to get through without difficulty. "Good work. Now, get up there and head out."

"What?" Brennan couldn't believe his ears. "Adam, I am not leaving you behind."

"Yes, you are, Brennan," Adam contradicted. "The only way we're going to get out of here is if someone can go for help. It's either you or me, and I'm not equipped to fly out of this cave. You are. _And_ you can keep the ferals at bay with a few well-placed shots. I can't."

"You can't defend against them," Brennan pointed out desperately. "Without me, both of you are sitting ducks. What if they find you in here? There's no way out."

"Or we can sit here and starve to death over the next few days," Adam told him. "Brennan, move! Go!"

"Adam—"

"Brennan." It was Jesse, voice weak but determined.

"Jesse." Brennan knelt by the man who was closer than a brother. The shadows in the cave made his face look worse, if anything. The water in the stream trickled noisily behind them. Brennan ignored the environment. "Jesse, we're going to get you out of here."

"Yes, you are, Brennan." Jesse coughed, more blood trickling out. He wiped it away with a determined hand. "Brennan, go. Bring back help."

"I'm not leaving you behind, man."

"Yes, you are, Brennan," Jesse repeated. "You heard Adam. And everyone for ten miles around heard that explosion. You have to leave now. Escape, and bring back Shalimar and Emma. That'll even up the odds real quick. Go to somewhere where the comm. links work. Go, Brennan," he repeated. "It's the only way."

"Go," Adam echoed. "And hurry. Before the ferals come to investigate."

Brennan tightened his lips. "All right."

Three days, and his arm felt better, even if not completely healed. Adam was right; his electrical nature did have a positive effect. Brennan balanced himself, and powered up.

The blast shot him high into the air, and he deliberately landed as gracefully as he could to avoid jolting his arm. And the additional height gave him an opportunity to swiftly survey the surrounding territory: snow-covered mountains all around, the mountain he was on was the only one still free from ice although that status wouldn't last long as fall moved toward winter. Worse: he saw Bartholomew leading two other ferals up the mountainside toward his position, moving fast.

All right, lateral move. Run across the mountainside until he was far enough away so that the beast mutants couldn't see him, and then make his way down the slopes. He started out, trying his comm. link as he went. "Shalimar? Emma? Anybody hear me?"

Only static answered him. But several yards in front of him, coming in from the side, were another feral or two. _Oops. No escape that way. Only way out is to head up the mountain. Damn. That'll take longer to get out of here_. Brennan swiftly changed direction, heading upward, scrambling over the rocks in his way.

No good. More mutants coming down from the top. Brennan did a quick three-sixty: ferals all around, all heading straight for him—and the opening to the cavern where Adam and Jesse were. All aiming for one slightly abused elemental.

No help for it. Brennan darted back to the opening to the cavern. "Look out below!" he yelled before jumping in, feet first.

"Brenn—"

Brennan landed on his feet, the shock sending major pain signals from his broken arm to his brain. He hissed with the agony, but channeled it into a lightning blast that sent the ferals scrambling back out of the line of sight of the opening twenty feet above his head.

"Sorry, Adam," Brennan groaned, catching his breath. "They were all around me. I wasn't going anywhere."

Adam slumped back in dismay. "Then that's it. We're finished."

"Yes, you are," Bartholomew called down, careful not to stick his head over the opening where Brennan could shoot it off. Brennan did indeed send a slender shaft of lightning out through the hole, just to remind the ferals to keep their distance. "Give up. You're not going anywhere. We win."

"Not yet you haven't," Brennan growled, tempted to throw a major blast, just to take out the feral.

But Adam stopped him. "Conserve your strength, Brennan. Conserve your power. We may need it."

"All right." Brennan consoled himself by throwing merely an angry glare toward the hole, but Bartholomew and the other ferals had gotten the message: Mutant X wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.


	8. More Deadly Than 8

"I'm coming down," Bartholomew called into the hole.

"Like hell you are," came the growled reply.

"Truce," was Bartholomew's response after dodging back to avoid a slash of lightning aimed at his nose. "White flag. I'm coming down to talk. Nothing more."

"You can talk from up there."

"Not like civilized men."

"The only civilized men around are the three of us. You don't qualify, and it's not because of the way you look."

Adam stopped the elemental. This was getting them nowhere. With Brennan armed and ready, they could allow the hawk feral to drop in for a chat; they had nothing to lose. "All right. You can come down."

"But one wrong move, and I'll singe your feathers so bad that you won't need a potion to get bare skin," Brennan vowed.

"Agreed." Bartholomew gave a satisfied chuckle. "You might want to clear away from directly under the opening." So saying, the hawk feral gracefully dropped through the hole, landing as elegantly on his feet as Shalimar could have done. Brennan scowled at him from under dark eyebrows._Score one for the feral_.

Bartholomewlooked around the cavern, noting the stream, the boulders, and the significant lack of anything else to sustain life. He also observed the condition of the cavern's inhabitants: disheveled, bruised and broken, and in clear need of two weeks off from life in general. "Not much of a hide-out."

"Better than the accommodations that you offered," was Brennan's surly reply. "Room service was piss poor. And I'd fire the cleaning people, if I were you."

"Don't be so certain," Bartholomew admonished. "Listen to our offer." He gestured toward Jesse, still lying on the floor, trying to make himself comfortable with a small rock for a pillow, shivering even with Adam's own shirt as a dismal excuse for a blanket, looking pale and ill. "He's the one we want."

"You can't have him," Brennan said automatically. "Get that straight, bird brain."

"Give him to us," Bartholomew continued, as if Brennan hadn't spoken. "We'll allow the two of you to go free, even point you in the right direction to get to town. Leave, and two of you live. Defy us, and you all die. Everyone loses."

"Not a chance," Brennan said.

"We'll do it," Jesse contradicted.

"No, we won't," Adam jumped in. "Jesse, we're not going to let you throw your life away."

"Adam—"

"The answer is no, and that's final, Jesse." Adam turned back to the feral. "Get out. The answer is no."

Bartholomew shrugged his shoulders. "I thought you might say that, but the others insisted that you be given a chance." He jerked his chin at Brennan. "Don't try to leave. We'll have people watching the opening for any moves. And we can see a lot better in the night than you can." And with that, he made a standing leap straight up the twenty feet to the ceiling and outside. Shalimar Fox couldn't have done any better.

Jesse wasn't finished. "You should have taken their offer," he said bitterly. "You could have gotten out of this. Adam, I'm finished anyway. You said so yourself; this poison they made me drink will kill me."

"We don't know that for certain," Adam argued. "We need to get you back to Sanctuary, where I can run tests. I can come up with a cure."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"We won't know until I try. And that means all of us getting out of mess. That's 'all of us', Jesse. Not 'some of us.'"

"Besides," Brennan put in, "Ole Feather-head was lying."

Jesse's gaze flicked over to the elemental. "What do you mean?"

Brennan shrugged, stopping quickly as his arm reminded him not to engage in such antics. "He was lying. It was obvious."

"Not to me, Brennan."

"Was to me." Brennan leaned back against the cave wall, positioning himself where he could still see—and more importantly, aim—at the opening in the cave ceiling. "Jess, you're not the only mutant around."

"But I'm the only one that that devil's brew works on."

"But that's not what the geniuses upstairs think."

"Well, they're wrong."

"But they don't know that. Or if they do, they're in a huge state of denial. Remember, they now know that I'm a mutant, too, and once you're used up, bro, they'll be coming for a certain elemental that I happen to be very fond of. We're not leaving you, bro," Brennan added firmly. "Start thinking up ways for all three of us to escape. Until then, I don't want to hear anything else coming out of your mouth. Hear me?"

Jesse frowned, and turned his head away. He wouldn't answer.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shalimar fought back the tears. They wouldn't help, and they interfered with her ability to look at the map.

Emma came up behind her. The psionic laid a hand on the feral's shoulder. "We'll find them, Shalimar. It's only a matter of time."

"Which is time they may not have." Shalimar bit her lip to force the salty liquid to stay where it was. "There are three more mountains to go. But what if we've missed them? They told you that they were in a cave. What if I passed right by them, didn't know they were there? What happens, Emma, when there are no mountains left to search? What do we do then?"

"It won't come to that," Emma said forcefully. "It can't, and it won't! We _will_ find them!" She looked at the map, then up at the three remaining mountains that they had left to search in the area that they thought that their missing teammates had gone down in. Two of the mountains were snow-capped, the third bare and still waiting for the winter white sale for clothing its peak. "We'll keep searching, Shalimar. I'll search tonight, see if there's anything that they can tell me in their dreams. Tomorrow we'll try that mountain." She pointed at one of the two snow-topped peaks. "That one. It looks the coldest. If the guys are on that one, they'll need rescuing faster to get out of the snow. Hopefully that will be the one, and we can get them home."

"Home," Shalimar echoed. "Home."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jesse peered up through the hole in the ceiling, careful to stay out of the line of fire. "It's getting dark."

"And cold." Brennan looked around for something to burn. There was no wood in the cave. His gaze lit briefly on the shirt that he had given up to make the rope out of, but sagged. The damp cloth not only would give off choking smoke but would burn to ashes within minutes, and that was assuming that he could get a flame started through the wet. Heat was out of the question from such meager rags. "I think the three of us are going to get a lot more intimate tonight than we usually do. What I wouldn't give for that survival blanket from the Helix. Next time, I vote we bring it along when a bunch of ferals grabs us and drags us back to their camp like a sack of moldy potatoes."

"While you're at it, ask for a cup of hot cocoa," Jesse suggested. "A fireplace, even a kerosene heater."

"A campfire will do nicely," Adam put in, craning his neck to see. The beast ferals were out of sight, but all three knew that their enemy was still there, waiting for an opportunity to snatch up a certain mutant or two. Every few minutes another pebble or two dripped into the hole, just to remind them that they were still prisoners.

"While we're at it, put in a heating system," Jesse quipped. "Gas or electric?" He pointed at the stream. "Steam heat, and we'll poach some fish for dinner while we're at it."

"No, really." Adam pointed out through the hole in the cave ceiling. "A campfire. Brennan, do you see that?"

Now Brennan looked, getting interested. "A tree. Pine, if I'm not mistaken. With large branches. Branches that are positioned right overhead."

Adam grinned. "How's your shooting eye, Sparky?"

"For something like this, damn good. Campfire with roaring fire? Even a chance to barbecue a few measly little fish from our underground stream? Stand back, and let the master show you how it's done." Brennan snapped his fingers, feeling the welcome electrons sizzle and dance over his fingers. He concentrated, letting the charge build up inside, the charge eager to rush forth. He eyed the branch over head: twenty feet to the cave opening, and then another twenty, perhaps more, to sever the limb and send it tumbling down to the three cold and hungry captives. _Piece of cake_.

Brennan send the lightning bolt flaming into the air. Neat as a pin, it sliced through the branch with a crack, and the piney scent of chopped wood filled the air. Brush came tumbling down, sliding right into the hole as Adam had requested. _"Yes!"_ He started forward to collect the prize.

An arrow split the air, fired by a feral above. It almost missed Brennan—it took a bare slice of skin from his arm. Brennan yelped in surprise and pain.

But the next volley was already on its way. "Brennan!" Jesse yelled. He launched himself into the air, phasing solid as he did so. The arrow that would have gone through Brennan's heart instead bounced harmlessly off Jesse's diamond-hard surface to clatter to the floor of the cave. The next three, in rapid succession, did the same.

Brennan and Jesse toppled over into the small stream, sending a spray of water across the floor and sending the blind cave fish fleeing in terror. Brennan swallowed an unhealthy dose of H2O and came up sputtering, Jesse dragging him down with the sheer density of his mass. Instantly realizing what had happened, Jesse quickly relaxed the reflex and snapped back into normal density. Adam hastened to help them both out of the water before the ferals could re-load and send more arrows raining down at them.

"Missed," Brennan taunted the ferals above, ignoring the dribble of blood inching its slow way down his arm. Another arrow was the half-hearted response, but it came nowhere near to where the three huddled against the cave wall. Brennan turned to the others. "Everybody okay?"

"You got it the worst." Adam dabbed at the cut on Brennan' arm with the least dirty of their rags. "You could have been killed. Watch out."

"Not with Stonewall Kilmartin around," Brennan grinned. "What's all that training for that you make us do, if not for times like this? I'll admit, I never thought we'd use it while trapped in a cave waiting to get killed by a bunch of hairy mutants but hey—gotta live a little." _Adrenaline taking its sweet time to vanish, guy_.

Adam examined the pine branch that they had pulled out of the line of fire. "Green, but that's to be expected. The smoke should rise up through the opening in the roof of the cave and keep the ferals at bay. It might even smell good."

"Anything would smell good after three days in the same clothes," Jesse griped, crawling slowly back to his spot where he had been doing a good job of holding up the cave wall.

"Want me to try another run for it?" Brennan suggested. "If the smoke drives them back far enough, I'll be able to get away and bring back help. Ferals hate fire."

Adam considered, then shook his head. "No. These aren't normal ferals; they don't have Shalimar's fear of fire. They'll only be as far back as it takes to breathe, and they'll circle the area to prevent just what you're suggesting. No, let's break this wood up into manageable pieces. It'll take you a while to get a fire going with wood this green."

"Uh, Adam?"

"Yes, Brennan?"

"I fell in the stream."

Adam understood instantly, and his heart sank. A wet Brennan was an electrical current that would surge through all the water across the floor. A floor that a certain genetic scientist and a certain molecular mutant were positioned upon. With nothing to act as a ground circuit, if Brennan tried to use his powers, all three of them would be fried. _Maybe as a last resort, but I don't recommend it for anything less._

Adam glanced up nervously at the hole in the cave roof. "I hope they don't figure out that we've lost our long distance weapon."

"Very bad," Brennan agreed. "Adam, those guys are not stupid. They may not figure it out right away, but they're going to get a pretty good idea that something has happened if I don't challenge them every now and again. What are we going to do?"

Adam searched both the surroundings and his brain, looking for inspiration. He lit upon the remnants of Brennan's shirt, doing double duty as a short length of rope. "A sling shot. I used to be pretty good at it as a kid. And we've got the rocks."

"Lots of rocks." Brennan tried to get enthusiastic. "You think that will convince them?" His voice held plenty of doubt.

"You've got to be kidding," was Jesse's contribution.

"Sure, it will." Adam wished that he were a better actor, to put more confidence into his voice. Neither mutant appeared to believe him.

"We need help," Jesse said.

"That goes without saying." Adam hefted a rock the size of his fist, estimating if the shirt would fling it the way he wanted or if the fabric would shred under the strain. "As soon as Brennan dries out, we can try smoke signals."

"Not funny, Adam." Jesse was through playing around. "I mean, we need to let Shalimar and Emma know where we are."

Adam stopped weighing the rocks, cocking his head. "And just how are we going to do that, Jesse? Our comm. links aren't working; clearly there's something magnetic under the earth that plays havoc with the signal. My guess is that there's a large deposit of iron nearby. And even if the comm. links did work, they wouldn't this far underground. And just what would we tell the girlsif we could call them? It's not as though we've been taking readings by starlight."

Jesse pointed at Brennan. "Him."

"Me?"

"You were outside, Brennan. What did you see?"

"Mountains," Brennan said. "Trees. Rocks. All very generic, Jess. Not a lot of help even for Shalimar."

"How many mountains? What shape?"

"Big mountains—" Brennan started to say, when he broke off in thought. Then: "Mountains with snow on them, the one to the north with snow down to the tree line and the other with snow only on one face, the west face. Our mountain, the one where we are, has no snow on it. We're located about a quarter mile down from our own tree line, on the eastern side of the mountain. There's a deep valley below us, and then nothing until another mountain far off in the distance. We must be on the eastern edge of this mountain range."

Jesse grinned approvingly. "And Shalimar always said you'd never amount to anything in the bush."

Brennan grinned back, hope glimmering. "Showed her." Then—"she really said that?"

Adam nodded, his own spirits rising. "'Fraid so, Brennan. You'll make her eat those words." Then he put a damper on things. "So we can help the girls find us, but how are we going to get this information to them? What I said to Brennan still goes: the comm. links are useless here. And the smoke signals I spoke of were a joke, Jesse."

"I'm not talking about smoke signals. I'm talking about me."

"You?" Adam got nervous.

"Me." Jesse took a deep breath. "Adam, when did you two see Emma, and talk with her? It was during a seizure, right?" he hurried on, not letting the older man speak. "I heard you earlier, while you thought I was asleep. Right after the seizure, while I'm sleeping it off, that gives Emma the opportunity to come through and communicate. That's what you said."

"That may be what I said, but you're not having any more seizures," Adam pointed out. "That was in response to that poison that the ferals gave you. And if you're thinking about drinking any more of it: don't. It will kill you. Your body can't take another dose of that stuff. I won't let you do it."

"Good, because that wasn't what I had in mind," Jesse replied. "Adam, what if I had another seizure, one _not_ caused by the ferals' potion? Do you think that Emma could come through? You and Brennan could talk to her, tell her where we are."

"It's a possibility," Adam admitted, "but, Jesse, the point is academic. You're not going to have any more seizures. The poison is working its way out of your system. You're getting back to normal." _I hope_.

"There's another way to have a seizure." Jesse took a deep breath. "A seizure can be induced by electricity."

Adam stared. "That's dangerous. An electrically induced seizure will damage your mind, not to mention cause some serious pain. When it's used in therapeutic treatment, it's done under anesthesia. This is too risky, Jesse. He might accidentally kill you."

"And where we are right now is not? C'mon, Adam. Can you think of a better way to get out of this mess?" Jesse jerked his thumb upwards, indicating the waiting band of ferals. "They're not going to stay up there forever. As soon as they figure out that ole Hot Wire here has had his flames doused, they'll be down in a heartbeat. And hitting us with water balloons, or whatever they have that will do the same thing to keep him wet."

Adam cast around for more objections. "The equivalent concept applies, Jesse. If Brennan is wet, he can't use his powers. Which means he can't electrocute you." He deliberately let the term hang out there, trying to get a rise out of Jesse.

It didn't work. "There's a dry spot over there," Jesse pointed, indicating a small pile of rocks.

"He's still wet. All wet. And so is your idea."

Jesse let a small smile crawl across his face. "Don't take this the wrong way, Brennan, but—get naked."

"What?"

"You heard me. Take off your sopping clothes; they're keeping you wet. You'll dry off in moment or two. Cold, but dry. Then we do the death row electric chair thing, you talk to Emma, and we're home free." The smile drooped slightly. "I hope."

"Adam?" Brennan kept hoping for another objection from the senior member. _This was seriously crazy!_

But Adam was defeated by logic. "We need to come up with another way—" he started.

"Haven't heard any yet, Adam," Jesse said, deliberately calm. He sat up and folded his arms, trying to look healthier than he was. It almost worked. "I admit, the thought doesn't thrill me. And if you can come up with another idea in the time remaining before our friends up top decide to make their move…" He let the words trail off.

Adam shuddered. Jesse was right; there was no other option. Well, there was, but it involved Jesse taking another swig of the ferals' death potion and turning Bartholomew or one of the others back into a hairless ape and Jesse into a lifeless corpse with Brennan following shortly thereafter. If Jesse wanted to take a chance on going out at the hands of his teammate instead… Adam couldn't complete the thought. _The world will be a very cold place without you, Jesse Kilmartin._

"All right," he said finally. "Brennan?"

Brennan closed his eyes in silent agony. "I can't do this, bro." To this man who was closer than a brother. Jesse was asking Brennan to hurt him, to save Brennan' own life along with Adam, and leave the molecular behind. "I can't do it."

"Yes, you can." Jesse understood, knew exactly what he was asking. "Brennan, this is the only way. We are not getting out of here on our own; we need Shalimar and Emma. Besides," and he flickered a smile, "you do this right and you'll cure me of all the craziness you're always accusing me of. Isn't that worth it? Dark clouds, silver linings?"

"This isn't funny, Jess. I could kill you."

"But you won't." Jesse too grew serious. "I trust you, Brennan. I can trust you with my life, and the lives of my team mates. Including yours. Please, Brennan. Do this for me."

"I must be crazy," Brennan muttered, giving in. Right now, he felt cold and wet and thoroughly unhappy. _Could there be a worse spot for Mrs. Mulwray's little boy to be in?_ Brennan didn't think so.

"C'mon, you'll feel better in a moment. Just think of how it will be when Shal and Emma get here," Jesse coaxed. "One look at that broken wing of yours, and they'll be falling over each other nursing you back to health."

"Right." Brennan fumbled one-handedly with the belt buckle to his pants.

"Want some help?" Jesse teased gently. "I realize that you're used to having some girl do it for you…"

"Shut up, Jess." Savagely. "At least you could turn around," Brennan added bitterly.

"C'mon, Jesse." Adam turned the molecular to face the other side of the cave. "Let's give him some privacy. These fish in this stream here," he added conversationally, "what do you think? Convergent evolution to the guppy? The fins are similar."

"There's something very symbolic in the fact that my last discussion on Earth is about guppies," Jesse quipped. "Very humbling. I would have thought that it would be something more along the lines of nuclear fusion, or at least saving fifteen screaming kids from an overturned and burning bus about to explode. Somehow this seems anti-climactic."

"If I find a burning bus in this cave, I'll be sure to direct you to it," Adam assured him, then turned serious. "Are you certain that you want to do this?"

"Want to? No. Wrong phrase. Best option? That's a little more consistent with reality." Jesse too grew serious, and lowered his voice. "If I don't get out of this alive, Adam, don't let Brennan blame himself. He will, you know."

"Yes," Adam agreed, "he will. And so will I. I'm supposed to be the mastermind of all of this; I should be able to come up with a better solution."

"And, given time, I'm sure that you would," Jesse told him. "But that's the crunch point: time. We've been here three days now, going on a fourth. We're out of time."

Brennan crawled out of his pants, using the damp fabric to rub off any stray drops of moisture that he could. He would need all the control that he could muster for this little trick, and this was hardly the best of circumstances. He hesitated at the shorts, but Jesse was right: his clothes were soaked through and through, and that water would spread the electrical charge throughout the cavern and electrocute everyone instead of just Jesse. He snorted: Jesse. His best friend. His best friend who had just asked—no, _demanded_—that Brennan all but kill him. Brennan developed a sudden flash of insight and sympathy for the knights of old, the ones asked to deliver the _coup de grace_ to a dying compatriot. _Harder on the ones left behind, Jess_. He rubbed harder, trying for heat, for friction, anything to warm away the chill that was settling onto his heart. It wasn't working. Not wearing a stitch of clothing wasn't helping.

Jesse came up behind, laid a warm hand on Brennan's shoulder. "Ready, bro?"

Brennan nearly jumped out of his cold naked skin. "No."

Jesse understood. "Yes, you are, bro." He smiled crookedly. "It's okay, Brennan. Just do the best you can." He seated himself amongst the rocks, crossing his legs and leaning back against the cold and uncomfortable cave wall. "What voltage you gonna use? One hundred? Two?"

"Just enough to shut you up." Brennan didn't feel the joke.

Jesse closed his eyes. To keep them open, to watch the elemental at work, would have been too much for Brennan; that much Jesse knew. "Fry away, bro."

Brennan placed both hands to either side of Jesse's head, ignoring the sudden stab that the broken bones send rushing through his nerves. It seemed fitting, somehow, that he not escape this ordeal unscathed himself. He could feel Adam's presence behind him, tall and reassuring and helpless, ready to rush in and—do what? What could the scientist/doctor do? For all of his education and brilliance, Adam was just as powerless as the rest of them. _Damn ferals. Wish I could send them all to hell and back. Maybe not back. Just drop 'em off at the nearest bus stop in Purgatory._

"You're stalling." Jesse kept his eyes closed. "_Do it, bro_."

Electrons crackled. A cry wrenched itself from Jesse's throat, cut off by the sudden cessation of breath. Every muscle in the molecular's body clenched, drawing up into himself, eyelids flashing open with eyes rolling back into his head.

"Enough!" Adam commanded sharply. "That's it, Brennan!"

Brennan cut the flow off instantly, catching the limp body as Jesse slumped against the rocks. "Jesse?"

Adam swiftly checked the pulse at Jesse's neck. "He's alive. So far." He helped Brennan maneuver the man into the most comfortable position possible under the circumstances. "Now we'll see if he was right. Emma?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma could feel Jesse calling her from the moment she entered her trance. There was urgency in his call; clearly her teammate needed her as quickly as possible. "Jesse?"

"Emma!" Jesse came into view. It was like that on the Psychic Planes sometimes; once you connected, you could 'see' each other. Usually you saw each other as you wished to see them. This time Emma saw Jesse as she had the last time she'd actually seen him in the flesh: hair swept back, shirt open over a white tee and jeans trying not to slip down over narrow hips. Face open and welcoming, teeth flashing in a grin. He looked a lot better than last time, she reflected, when she had had to guide him back to his body. He had more purpose to him this time, and that gave him force in the Overworld.

This, however, could be worse. A pliant Jesse would go where she led him. This one? "Jesse, what are you doing here? This can be dangerous if you're not trained."

"Not too safe where we are now, either." Jesse giggled, the experience turning him drunk. That too was a common occurrence here. Emma herself had gotten 'tipsy', early on before she trained. "Gotta come get us soon. Or one of us isn't gonna be walking out at all."

"Brennan? I know he was injured."

"Nope." Jesse leaned over to confidentially announce and almost toppled himself onto the cloud ground, "_me_. That's why I've come. To tell you to hustle your pretty little asses." He giggled again. "Oops. That was rude. That's what Mom always used to say. Didn't mean to say that. I mean, I did. But I didn't. But I did. Hell, you know what I mean. Oops." He looked at his surroundings. Emma saw it as a cloud world, and wondered briefly what Jesse saw. It was different for each person. "Am I allowed to say that here? Hell, I mean? Oops, I said it again. Maybe I better get out of here."

"Not a bad idea." Emma supported him, catching him under the arms, knowing that this was only symbolic of the mental support she was giving. "Jesse, you need to stay with your body. You need to get back right away."

Jesse considered. "Not yet. They haven't finished torturing me yet. Think I'll stay here until it's all over. Feels better. You go instead. They're not gonna torture you. I don't think." He hiccupped.

"You can't do that, Jesse. You need to get back and watch over your body, fight to live. If you stay here, your body will collapse." Emma felt alarmed. This is what she had feared when she saw Jesse.

"Naw. Gonna croak anyway. Might as well go out in style." He leaped into the air to land on a soft bed that appeared behind him. Emma didn't blink. Materializing things in an instant was normal for the Psychic Planes where thought ruled. Nothing really existed. Either one of them could create whatever they wanted out of mere idea. "Ah. Much better." He grinned, folding his arms comfortably behind his head. "You go. Adam and Brennan need to talk to you. Just look for an unused body and hop in. I won't mind."

"Jesse, I can't do that. You have to come back with me."

"No, I don't. You found your way before; you can do it again."

"Jesse, you're going back. I can _make_ you go back," Emma warned.

_That_ penetrated his pseudo-drunkenness. "Emma, please don't." Jesse looked away frantically, searching for an escape through the clouds. "Emma, don't make me go back!"

"I'm sorry, Jesse," Emma whispered, and took careful aim.


	9. More Deadly Than 9

Jesse gave a deep sigh, seeming to sink more deeply onto his rocky bed, almost as if he were about to phase into the rock like a ghost. Adam swiftly checked his pupils: "out like a light. But breathing; I think you got the right voltage, Brennan."

"Okay, so where's Emma?" Brennan wasn't ready yet to breathe his own sigh of relief. He had forced himself to do this; it was only fair that something good come of it. _I don't think I could stand it if I've killed him for nothing._

_He's not dead yet, Brennan, and won't be if I have anything to say about it._

"I don't know," Adam fretted. The tension was getting to the older man as well. "Maybe she won't come. Maybe we got it all wrong; that it's the potion that draws her, not a seizure. Maybe—look!"

Once again a slender mist emanated from the molecular's body, drifting wispily into the vague outline of a woman. The light from the stars outside the cavern hole dimmed the brilliance of her figure, but there was no doubt that something—some_one_—was again here. Brennan's heart lifted.

"Emma?"

"Take care of Jesse," the ghost murmured. "He almost left."

Adam felt a chill run through his soul. "What do you mean?"

But Emma knew there were most important things to discuss, and very little time. The pair could see her look down as if looking at a wristwatch, checking on how much time there was left. The move was symbolic since there was no watch on the psionic's misty arm, but very telling as to how little time Mutant X had left—for either group. "Where are you?"

"In the mountains," Brennan told her, "inside another cave. There's a hole that we can see out of pretty easily. We're on the only mountain I can see that _doesn't_ have snow in it. We're located about a quarter mile down from our own tree line, on the eastern side of the mountain. There's a deep valley below us, and then nothing until another mountain far off in the distance."

The ghost wisp extended a tendril of mist that gently caressed the side of Brennan's head. Brennan felt something that he could only describe as a _tickling_ of his brain. "Got it," ghost-Emma murmured. "I can see it."

They both got an impression of a worried smile, and then the mist seeped back toward the molecular in preparation for departure. "Hang on," the mist begged, losing its shape altogether in favor of an amorphous mass. "Make Jesse stay with us. We're coming as fast as we can." On its way back to Jesse, the mist curled lasciviously around Brennan's still naked form, dawdling over parts of him left best to the imagination. The mist-filled smile turned a little less worried and a little more mischievous. "Real fast." Then the mist drifted reluctantly away.

Adam turned to Brennan and cocked his head. "I think you can get dressed now."

Brennan flushed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Shalimar! Shalimar!" Emma shook the blonde's shoulder. "Wake up! I've found them!"

Shalimar sprang out of her camp roll, suddenly awake as only a wild animal could do. None of this slowly rising to an acceptable level of consciousness; _move now!_ "Where?" she demanded, slamming her feet into her boots.

"Here." Emma spread the maps out in front of her, using the pencil flash as a pointer. "They're on the mountain without snow, about a quarter mile down from the tree line. Eastern side, Brennan said. They don't have much time left. They're in trouble."

"Aren't they always?" Shalimar slipped into her heavy jacket, grabbing up her pack. "Let's go."

Emma stopped her. "What about breaking camp?"

Shalimar shook her head. "No time. Let's find the guys first. We can always come back later and pick up after ourselves. But right now, I don't want anything slowing us down."

Emma nodded, agreeing with her logic. "Let's go."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They weren't water balloons, but they were filled with water. As predicted, the ferals figured out that it was the water that was keeping Brennan from defending his team mates. Several buckets of water were splashed into the interior of the cavern in all directions, thoroughly re-dousing Brennan and the other two.

"Hey!" Brennan spluttered, realizing in an instant what had happened. And what was about to occur. He readied himself. Brennan's mutant elemental powers were now neutralized, but that didn't mean that the man was helpless. No matter what, these ferals would know that they had been in a fight.

Bartholomew hopped down from the hole in the cave roof with a graceful plunge, landing on his feet and kicking out with a long leg. Brennan deflected the move with his good arm, letting the motion carry him around into a back roundhouse kick that knocked the hawk man into the wall. Bartholomew squawked, the sound more chicken than hawk-like.

But Brennan couldn't spend the time laughing at him, for Wilbur the Bear also dropped down out of the sky. He was less graceful, but more powerful with the strength of Ursinus Rex in those immense arms. Wilbur swung, Brennan ducked.

Adam was outclassed from the start. Both the badger and the wolverine ganged up on him, and all the intelligence in the world wasn't enough to dodge those fast flying fists. The wolverine got in the first blow below the gut, and Adam folded, gasping for breath. The badger slammed him from above, and Adam dropped to the floor. The pair turned to their main objective: Jesse.

Jesse scrambled dizzily to his feet and massed. Badger swung his taloned fist, and shattered both talons and fingers against the diamond-hard surface. He howled in sudden pain, dropping back to nurse his paw.

The wolverine learned from his partner's mistake, and from previous episodes. Punches were not the way to take down a recalcitrant molecular, but he could still beat him. Darting around behind with the speed of a feral, he wrapped his arms around the stone statue that Jesse had become and squeezed.

It didn't work. The statue stayed rigid. But the wolverine didn't give up.

Jesse did run out of breath. Gasping, he un-phased—which was what the wolverine was waiting for. He squeezed harder. Ribs popped. Face went blue.

Jesse went down.

"Got him!" Darryl howled. "My turn! My turn to change back!" He tossed the molecular over his shoulder and leaped straight up through the hole in the roof of the cavern, carrying Jesse with him. It was a move worthy of Shalimar at her best.

"Got him!" the others echoed, and followed in a series of feral leaps.

Brennan jumped back to his feet to follow—and crumbled to one knee, groaning in pain.

"Brennan!" Adam gasped from his own position on the floor. He crawled upright, staggering, hand steadying himself against the wall.

But sheer adrenaline forced the elemental to his feet. He cast one angry glare around the cavern. "I am _damn_ tired of this. Stand back, Adam."

"You can't! You're wet!"

"Get to someplace dry, Adam. Get inside the tunnel where water isn't. Get there now," he snarled. "_Right now_. I am about to show these pieces of slime what it means to mess with Mutant X."

Adam scrambled. There was only one place that wasn't covered with water droplets: the narrow tunnel. Adam dove in, banging his head against the top of the rock and seeing stars once again.

Brennan wasn't in a waiting sort of mood. Growling, he super-charged his one working hand. Light flickered, hissing as it came in contact with water. Brennan could feel the danger licking at his bare feet, begging to electrocute its master.

_Not now!_ Brennan poured all of his anger into the one blast, shooting himself up through the cavern roof like a bullet! Electric power zapped across the floor of the cave in a vicious crackle, seeking a victim to electrocute. But there was no one: Adam was safe within the tunnel and Brennan was safely airborne.

He came down on the mountainside slope, rolling in an automatic crouch, yelping as the broken bones hampered his recovery from the blast. But he was out!

No time to waste! He broke into a run, heading down the mountainside at breakneck speed, trying to catch up with the ferals eager on killing his teammate. He could see them up ahead, already back at their camp, the wolverine holding Jesse in his arms while Wilbur forced the potion down his throat. Jesse tried to fight them, tried to prevent them from administering the poison, but they were too many and too strong. _This couldn't be happening! Not now! Shalimar and Emma were so close!_

"No!" Brennan yelled. Jesse bucked and fought, and as Brennan watched, Wilbur wrenched his teammate's jaw open and poured the steaming cup in.

Brennan blasted them, heedless of where the lightning bolt hit, heedless of his water-logged state—no, his previousflight out of the cave had instantly dried him off in a wind tunnel effect. He was free from the short-circuiting water.

_Good_. _Time to go ballistic_. He crackled the electrons at his disposal, aiming first for Wilbur. Take the bear out of the equation, and the rest would fall just as soon as Brennan could singe the fur off each and every one of them. Brennan was _pissed_.

He wasn't thinking, only feeling. Feeling the anger. Feeling the rage, feeling the need to rescue his brother. The fiery force of electricity built to an unbearable height. He wasn't thinking—but the ferals were.

Badger was waiting for him, hiding in the brush. The beast feral pounced before Brennan could send off another lightning bolt, sweeping him off of his feet and rolling him down the mountainside toward the camp. The feral followed, kicking and scratching, until he could subdue the elemental. He grabbed Brennan by the broken arm, sending waves of pain shooting up to his brain to leave his prey only half-conscious. Brennan sank down to the ground, beaten by his own injury.

"Brennan!" Jesse yelled, choking on the noxious potion.

Wilbur grinned, taking advantage of the open mouth to force the dregs into the molecular. "Strong," he noted. "Maybe the potion wore off a bit. Maybe we'll get more than one more cure from you. Stay strong, boy." He shook the molecular, rattling his teeth and nearly taking the wolverine off of his feet. "Hang onto him, Darryl. The change will come any minute. Don't let him escape again."

"Hanging on," the wolverine assured the bear. "Hanging on!"

It was coming. Jesse could feel it, could feel each and every drop of the poison seeping through his gut into his bloodstream, ready to shake his DNA loose and feed it into the wolverine that held him in a death grip. Vision failed; this was it. _The end_. They'd gotten through to the girls, Shalimar and Emma'd help Adam and Brennan even if it was too late for him, _should'a__ stayed in the cloud world with Emma, Emma wouldn't let him…_

"Let him go."

Brennan watched through watering eyes, tried to concentrate on the scene in front of him despite the agony in his arm. _Damn badger, broke it all over again!_

Shalimar Fox, true feral, stalked forward, legs stiffened with the angry gait of a thoroughly pissed off cat. Brennan could almost hear the hissing, see the fur stand on end. This was not the girl that he routinely tussled with in mock matches back at Sanctuary. This was a thoroughly aroused, thoroughly _dangerous_ feral.

_"Let him go!"_

Badger let go of Brennan and attacked. Almost negligently, Shalimar cuffed him across the head: a single blow. Badger went down like a ton of bricks. Shalimar stalked forward.

Emma appeared to one side of the camp. "Let him go," she demanded.

The wolverine backed up, dragging Jesse with him. "No! He's mine! It's my turn!"

"Let him go." Emma slammed the wolverine with a psionic blast. The wolverine's head rocked back, and he slumped, taking the half-conscious molecular with him to the ground.

Afterward, Brennan would never be able to say exactly what had happened, and he wasn't certain that he wanted to. The ones that Emma got to first were the lucky ones; they were belted into unconsciousness with a single angry glare. Where ever Shalimar stalked, bits of fur and blood flew. Bones broke. Beast mutants whimpered and fled in mortal terror.

_Shit. Don't ever want to see them that angry ever again. And especially not at me!_

It was over.

Not quite. Shalimar helped Brennan to his feet, the angry feral suddenly gentle with her packmate. "Where's Adam?"

"In the cave," Brennan gasped, wishing his arm would go back to healing rapidly again. _Didn't hurt this bad the first time!_ At least, he didn't remember it hurting this bad. Black spots floated in front of his vision. "In the cave. Hurry!"

"Hurrying." Shalimar snatched up the rope from her pack where she'd dropped it—_she brought a pack? I didn't notice_—and broke into a run straight uphill.

"Jesse?" Emma pulled the molecular away from the unconscious wolverine feral, noting with dismay the tremors that were already beginning to shake him. Another seizure was approaching, a seizure that might kill the molecular. "Jesse, stay with me!"

"Adam. We have to get him to Adam." _Adam will know what to do_. Brennan had to believe that, had to believe that the rescue hadn't come too late for his team mate. Never mind that Adam didn't have any tools, didn't have the resources that he had acquired over the years and poured into Sanctuary. _Adam will know what to do to keep Jesse from dying_. "Jesse, keep fighting, man!" He pulled Jesse up with one strong hand, Emma supporting the other, dragging him out of the camp and up the slope toward the cavern opening. "Keep breathing, dammit!"

No time. Seconds counted, seconds wasted in sending the rope down for Adam to climb up, monkey-like. Seconds wasted in bringing the two together so that Adam could perform yet another miracle with nothing more than the power of his brain.

They could feel their teammate growing weaker, feel the tremors taking over. Soon the poison would kill him in front of their eyes, not even a DNA exchange for a beast mutant to say that _some_ good had come from this. Brennan and Emma hurried Jesse up the slope slung between them, watching as Shalimar tossed the rope down and then impatiently yanked Adam up the last few feet with the feral strength made frantic by need.

Jesse went limp in their grasp, hanging between their arms. Adam swiftly checked his pupils, noted the tremors, noted everything, running through his mental inventory of what they needed and didn't have. "Dammit. I need—" he broke off.

"Adam?" There was fear in Emma's voice.

"You'll forgive me for this later," he muttered. And drove his fist deep into Jesse's gut.

It worked. The entire contents of Jesse's stomach came pouring forth, the odor as noxious as it had been going down. Jesse gagged, held up only by the strength of his teammates, gratefully emptying himself of the poison that would kill him.


	10. More Deadly Than Epilog

Adam turned from his workbench, holding a test tube up to the light and grinning. The shiner that decorated his left eye had almost disappeared, as had the limp that had developed during the long walk back to civilization. He leaned against the counter, pretending not to still be exhausted several days after the timely rescue by the distaff members of Mutant X. Shalimar glowered at him, wanting him to rest; Adam carefully ignored the look. "You'll be happy to know that I've successfully synthesized an antidote to the beast feral's dilemma. Thanks to the chemicals that I was able to recover from Jesse's blood, I have been able to create a cure. A cure, I might add, that doesn't require the poisoning of my team. It even will clear up the residual five o'clock shadow for most of them."

"Wonderful," Brennan groaned from his place on one of the clinic beds. He stuffed the pillow a bit further down behind his head. His arm was casted properly this time, with fiberglass and a sling that came with a label instead of shredded tatters of cloth. "I hope you're not expecting me to deliver it to them. I hate the outdoors." His voice was slurred, courtesy of some pain-killers administered not an hour ago. Shalimar patted his hand—his good hand—in sympathy.

"Me, neither," Jesse muttered, equally as blasted on drugs.

"You." Adam came over to peer into Jesse's eyes, noting the dilated pupils and lethargy. "You're lucky to be alive. How are you feeling?"

"Feeling no pain," Jesse murmured, the words all but garbled. "Thanks, Emma."

Adam grinned sideways at the empath who still had both hands to either side of Jesse's skull, pouring in the healing thoughts to the raw brain cells. "You'll be feeling this way for the next several days, Jesse, until I'm certain that the rest of the poison is out of your system. I've got you on medication that should prevent any problems. Until then, you're at risk for more seizures."

"Not a problem. I think I'll just sleep here for a while." Jesse closed his eyes, already half-asleep. "The Helix?"

"Located it yesterday," Shalimar told him.

"Yesterday?" Jesse tried to sit up, and failed. Emma grumbled, and settled him back onto the bed, readjusting the covers. "How long—?"

"Three days."

"Three days?" Brennan too was outraged. "You told me one."

"That was _two _days ago, Brennan," Shalimar smirked.

"Are you trying to tell me that I—?"

"Out like a light," Shalimar assured him. She stroked the dark hair off of his forehead soothingly. Brennan tried to look daggers at the tiny blonde, but found himself too tired to get the expression to come off properly. "It was cute. You snored."

"I do not snore."

"You do now. We rented a plane to get back home, piled you both in, and listened to both of you snore the entire trip. We couldn't hear ourselves think." Shalimar took pity on the pair. "I was able to talk to the beast mutants shortly before we left, left them a way to communicate with Sanctuary. They called in to say that they found the Helix and that they would be hauling it out of the ravine as soon as we brought the cure. They'll do a trade: the Helix for a cure. It'll be in pieces, of course, but that will give you and Jesse an incentive to hurry up and get better so that you can help."

"What, an incentive to fix the Helix? All the pieces that it's in?" Brennan laid himself back on the bed. The artful wince that he gave turned into the real thing when the broken bones grated against themselves. "Ouch. It may take a while for this arm to heal."

"And I'm really not feeling as good as I thought," Jesse added, not opening his eyes. "We may not be able to get to it for at least a week. Maybe two."

"Or more," Brennan opined.

"Not a problem," Adam told them, a gleeful glint in his eye. "You can stay here in Sanctuary with me. The girls will take care of the upcoming mission."

"Mission? What mission?"

"The one in Acapulco." Shalimar kissed Brennan on top of his head. "You remember Acapulco? Beaches, bars, beautiful people who want to be friendly?"

"Acapulco?"

Emma stroked Jesse on the cheek, sending the molecular further into dreamland but not so far that he couldn't understand what was going on. "In your dreams, Jess. In your dreams."


End file.
